The new year began with a memorable weather month, including an arriving chill and a wintry conclusion, which changed the landscape of our latest snow events. Temperatures in Freefall After warmer weather initially, a late-month chill put January’s temperatures slightly below normal overall. The National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) reports a preliminary statewide average…

The post January’s Warm Start Flipped to a Frigid, Frozen Finish first appeared on North Carolina State Climate Office.

Accumulating snow fell all across North Carolina last weekend in our most widespread wintry event in more than a dozen years, and the biggest snow for some areas in several decades. While this event had a classic Carolina snowstorm setup, it was anything but a garden variety winter storm, following an ideal pattern for significant…

The post Rapid Reaction: A Statewide Snowstorm for the Ages first appeared on North Carolina State Climate Office.

A winter storm with an icy, damaging history dealt a relatively minor blow to North Carolina last weekend, leaving a slippery glaze but limited power outages in its wake. After an Arctic front arrived on Friday night to set up a frigid air mass – including afternoon temperatures only in the 20s on Saturday –…

The post Rapid Reaction: Weekend Winter Storm Brings Icy Glaze, But Few Outages first appeared on North Carolina State Climate Office.

It’s a climate conundrum: how can a year characterized by overall dry weather be most notable for its big precipitation events? That’s the reality of 2025 in North Carolina, which featured persistent drought as well as the return of snowfall, welcome spring rains for agriculture, and a solitary soaking from the tropics. As part of…

The post The Weather Year in Review: Dry Days, Plus a Few Storms, in 2025 first appeared on North Carolina State Climate Office.

December delivered mixed temperatures throughout the month, along with more dry weather and drought in central and western North Carolina. It also left us with a few more records to tally from 2025. From Wintry to Warm in One Month Balanced between a chilly start and a warmer finish, our December temperatures were near-normal overall…

The post A Divided December Started Cold, Then Heated Up first appeared on North Carolina State Climate Office.

One of North Carolina’s rarest weather events became a reality 15 years ago as a White Christmas unfolded across the state. A two-part event on December 25 and 26, 2010, left snow falling in all 100 counties and more than a foot on the ground in parts of the Mountains and northern Coastal Plain. With…

The post A Dream Come True: Remembering Our White Christmas in 2010 first appeared on North Carolina State Climate Office.

On our table in November, our cup didn’t exactly runneth over as dry weather continued, but it was a fittingly fall-like month – aside from an early bite of winter with a mid-month snow event. Dry Turkey: Another Precipitation Deviation Rain didn’t have a regular place at the table again last month, which was drier…

The post Digesting a Dry November, and More from Last Month first appeared on North Carolina State Climate Office.

It’s said that no two snowflakes are alike — and science backs that up — but could we see two winters following the same template in back-to-back years? Early signs among the ocean and atmosphere are showing similar setups to last winter, which was dry overall but with multiple wintry events affecting all parts of…

The post Winter Outlook 2025-26: A Seasonal Repeat in Store? first appeared on North Carolina State Climate Office.

Due to the ongoing federal government shutdown, the usual temperature and precipitation statistics and rankings from our partners at the National Centers for Environmental Information remain unavailable. In lieu of that, we’ve included some different maps and more local rankings in this month’s climate summary. Entering last month, our two biggest weather stories were the…

The post Unwrapping Our Weather Tricks and Treats from October first appeared on North Carolina State Climate Office.