Two hikers were rescued after being stranded for hours in severe winter weather conditions near Mount Washington.
How many times do you recall hearing social media chatter about a massive winter storm heading towards the Northeast’s I-95 corridor, bringing feet of snow? Well, with the conclusion of meteorological winter, we can definitively say that never transpired. In fact, some cities along the Gulf Coast nearly topped these major cities’ snowfall totals.
And remember the polar vortex disruption? It was impactful enough to make January the coldest since 1988, but when you factor in the unusually warm months of December and February, the records for cold temperatures quickly fell by the wayside.
According to preliminary observation data, the 2024-2025 winter was on track to be one of the top third-warmest winters of all time.
Without factoring in February’s warm air, the winter season averaged 2.29 °F above typical values across the contiguous U.S.
The U.S. wasn’t close to experiencing its warmest winter on record – that took place last season with an anomaly of 5.26 °F above normal – but the 2024-2025 season was a lot closer to being one of the warmest versus the coldest.
Based on preliminary figures, the winter was the coolest in about 4 years, when the anomaly was just 1.41 °F above typical values, also putting the recent winter largely in line with what was experienced in 2021-2022 and 2022-2023.
HOW LA NINA IMPACTED THE TOPSY-TURVY WINTER OF 2024-2025
Notable weather during the winter
The 2024-2025 winter can be summed up in three words: warm, cold and warm, again.
Early heavy snowfall in November appeared to set the country on a path toward a cold winter, but that wasn’t the case.
Once the November snowfall melted, it made way for a warm December nationwide, making it the fourth-warmest December on record.
January brought blizzards, with the first occurring from the Plains through the Ohio Valley and into the mid-Atlantic, marking just the first of many winter weather events.
The mid-Atlantic and Tennessee Valley experienced additional bouts of winter weather as the disruption of the polar vortex sent temperatures plummeting.
The cold air reached all the way to the Gulf Coast and temperatures were even cold enough to send the country’s presidential inauguration indoors.
The cold temperatures even helped produce a historic Gulf Coast blizzard, with New Orleans reporting 8 inches of snow, while parts of the Florida Panhandle seeing double-digit snowfall totals – a rare and lifetime occurrence in the region.
By February, much of the country had warmed up, to values similar to what was experienced in December.
While many cities experienced a lack of snowfall, precipitation deficits were notably high in areas such as New York City and Philadelphia. New York finished with a deficit of about 10 inches, while Philadelphia had nearly the same shortfall.
Chicago and Minneapolis also experienced significant snowfall shortfalls, contributing to the broader trend across the Midwest and I-95 corridor.
2024-2025 winter snow map
(FOX Weather)
Though meteorological winter officially ends in February, it’s important to note that snow can still fall well into the spring months.
Any additional snowfall in March and April won’t count toward winter totals but will instead contribute to spring snowfall records, which can still be extremely impactful.
How a weak La Niña event impacted the season
Traditionally, a La Niña winter brings warmer-than-average temperatures across the southern U.S., drier conditions in the West, and colder, stormier weather in the northern tier of the country, but a closer examination of the 2024-2025 winter revealed that the weather defied some of these typical trends.
While much of the country saw near-average temperatures, regions from the Southwest to Texas experienced above-normal readings, with some of the warmest conditions in the nation.
Typically, El Niño events – the opposite of La Niña – bring snowfall to the Southeast, but this year, cities in the Tennessee Valley and mid-Atlantic reported above-average snowfall, a pattern more commonly associated with El Niño years.
In California, La Niña weather patterns usually produce dry conditions in the southern part of the state, contributing to above-average wildfire activity, while the northern half often faces flooding, which is exactly what happened this season.
In early January, wildfires around Los Angeles destroyed more than 12,000 structures, causing widespread devastation and numerous fatalities.
Powerful Santa Ana winds made the fires difficult to contain and occurred when other parts of the country were experiencing significant cooldowns.