For those in the eastern half of the country, this winter seemed like an endless slog of frigid temperatures and stubbornly persistent snow piles. So it may come as a surprise to many that nowhere in the U.S. had a record cold winter this year. Nowhere even came close.
What did set records was heat. The western half of the country spent the winter baking—nine states had their hottest winter ever and five their second-hottest—which worsened drought conditions and has raised the risks of damaging wildfires come spring and summer. So much of the country was so warm that despite the cold in parts of the east, it was the second-warmest winter on record for the contiguous U.S. in the past 131 years. [emphasis added]
The warmest was the 2023-2024 meteorological winter (December 2023-Feburary 2024.)
Related posts:
March 2026
February 2026
January 2026
Climate change as a matter of fact: That's why it's called "extreme weather". (1/29/2026)
