2nd Warmest Winter in US Records Since 1895

Winter 2025-26 (December through February) was the second-warmest in U.S. records going back to 1895. The average temperature for the contiguous states was 37.13 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the monthly roundup released on March 9 by NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center. Given that the warmest winter on record was 2023-24, with 37.47 degrees F, the two warmest U.S. winters in 131 years of data have now occurred in the last three years.

It’s true that many parts of the northeastern half of the country, roughly from the Great Lakes into the Eastern Seaboard and Deep South, saw stretches of cold and snow that rivaled anything over the last few decades of local experience. Yet as a whole, it wasn’t a record-breaking winter at all – except for large stretches of the nation from the Great Plains westward, where many states and communities saw their warmest winter-long averages in more than a century of record-keeping.