As we officially welcome 2025, Central Park is going to see something we haven’t seen since 2022: a cold January. By this weekend, high temperatures are dropping into the low 30s. And that is where they are going to stay for a while.
Despite squeezing in a modestly chilly December, 2024 managed to tie as our warmest year on record in Central Park. The year it tied for the top spot: 2023. And both years began with exceptionally mild Januarys; 2023 even gave us our warmest January on record. Coming off of those two years, the start of 2025 is going to feel quite different.
Get Tri-state area news delivered to your inbox.> Sign up for NBC New York's News Headlines newsletter.
Following the NYE cold front, WNW winds will be ramping up the next several days. These winds will provide a steady influx of frigid, dry air directly from Canada. This will knock our temperatures down from the 50s we see on New Year’s Day to barely getting above freezing the entire week and a half that follows.
And the winds bringing this air are going to be gusty, especially over the next few days. The National Weather Service has issued a Wind Advisory through Thursday night, warning of winds gusting 40-50mph. This will make for "feels like" temperatures in the 20s as early as Thursday morning before we’re down to feeling like the teens and single digits on Saturday morning.
We’ve experienced long stretches of cold air before, even as recently as last month where we spent a week with temperatures failing to reach 40 degrees. But this dose of cold air looks to have a little more staying power. All trends indicate that, not only Central Park but the entire eastern half of the country, is likely to hang onto these below average temperatures through the middle of the month.
It is worth noting, however, that even though our temperatures will be consistently below average, we’re not looking ahead to any days with especially brutal highs dipping into the teens or single digits.
Weather Stories
It’s going to be cold, yes, but highs are going to be very reliably 5-10 degrees below the seasonal average. That is almost perfectly aligned what is considered average in Buffalo, NY for this time of year, where average highs range from 31-34 degrees.
So you’ll want to keep the heavy winter coats on for sure, but you won’t need to break out the thermal underwear unless you plan on spending extended periods of time outside. Or in Minnesota.
Still, even though this is no where near record breaking cold, it will feel like a change of pace compared to what we’ve experienced recently.
Our last two Januarys were unseasonably warm, but that speaks to the greater climatological trend that we’re going through. Temperatures in general are trending warmer, but nothing is warming faster than our winters. It is far and away the fastest warming season, no matter how you measure it.
So while a January like the one we’re looking to have in 2025 isn’t inherently anomalistic, it will be as we see temperatures continue along this increasingly warmer path.
