New York City’s winter 2025-26 snow season has pushed past the 30-year average at Central Park, the city’s official climate measurement site, ending a streak of unusually mild winters. The shift has caught the attention of forecasters and city planners alike, as snowfall totals have climbed above the 1991-2020 normal after three consecutive seasons that fell well short of typical accumulation. For a city that had grown accustomed to bare sidewalks in January, the return of regular snowfall carries real consequences for transit, budgets, and daily life.
Central Park’s Snow Totals Break a Dry Spell
Central Park, designated station USW00094728, serves as the official climate observation point for New York City under the National Weather Service. Every day, NWS issues a daily climate report that logs observed snowfall alongside normal values, tracking lines for month-to-date totals, accumulation since December 1, and accumulation since July 1. That same report includes departures from normal, giving forecasters and the public a running scorecard of how the current season compares to the baseline and how quickly it has crossed the threshold into above-normal territory.
According to NWS data, winter 2025-26 snowfall is running above the 1991-2020 normal (as shown in the NWS daily climate report). That baseline, per an NWS public information statement on winter weather awareness, pegs normal snowfall at Central Park at 29.8 inches per season. The contrast with recent years is stark. The same NWS statement lists last season’s Central Park snowfall at 12.9 inches and the 2023-24 season at 7.5 inches. The prior winter, 2022-23, produced just 2.3 inches. Each of those seasons fell well below normal, making the current rebound all the more noticeable to residents who had nearly forgotten what a full winter looked like and to planners who had begun treating low-snow winters as the default.
What “Normal” Actually Means for NYC Snowfall
The 29.8-inch figure is not arbitrary. NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information computes long-term climate normals using a 30-year averaging window, and the current standard period runs from 1991 through 2020. Snowfall normals are calculated for stations across the country using this methodology, which smooths out individual wild seasons to produce a reliable benchmark. By design, the normal is not a prediction for any given year but a statistical yardstick that helps put seasonal totals in context—whether they end up modestly above average or, as in Central Park this winter, clearly beyond the typical range.
The 1991-2020 window replaced the previous 1981-2010 set, and the transition was documented in NOAA’s formal change notices. For New York City, that means the 29.8-inch normal reflects three decades that included both heavy-snow winters and nearly snowless ones. Seasons like 2022-23, with just 2.3 inches, pull the average down, while blockbuster years push it up. When forecasters say the current winter is “above normal,” they are comparing real-time Central Park observations against that 30-year composite. Researchers and interested residents can verify these figures independently through NOAA’s online climate data platform, which provides raw daily station data, quality-check flags, and tools for building custom season-to-date totals.
Storms That Drove the Accumulation
A season’s snow total is rarely the result of steady, even accumulation. In most New York City winters, a handful of significant storms account for the bulk of the snow, while lighter dustings fill in the gaps. The NWS New York forecast office maintains a regional storm archive that catalogs major weather events, linking to event summaries, snowfall maps, and compiled storm totals. This record allows forecasters and emergency managers to trace exactly which systems contributed to the season’s running total and how they compared to historical storms in the region, including past nor’easters that have defined public memory of “big winters.”
The gap between the current season and the three that preceded it is wide enough to suggest that the difference comes down to storm track as much as temperature. When low-pressure systems track close to the coast and tap into Atlantic moisture while cold air is in place, Central Park tends to see heavier snow. In recent winters, those tracks repeatedly missed the city or arrived with marginal temperatures that turned potential snowstorms into chilly rain. The return of favorable storm geometry this season has been a primary driver of the above-normal numbers. Because the NWS climate report updates on a rolling basis, the final season total will not be locked in until spring, and late-season storms in March have historically added significant inches in New York City, meaning the departure from normal could still grow or narrow before the books close.
Why the Shift Matters Beyond the Numbers
Three years of light snow had practical effects on how New York City managed its winters. Plowing operations ran below capacity, salt stockpiles carried over from one season to the next, and school closures for weather became rare. The return to above-normal snowfall reverses those patterns. Each significant storm triggers a cascade of city responses: sanitation crews shift to plowing duty, public transit faces delays, and road treatments consume salt and budget dollars that had been building up during the lean years. The higher totals also test whether equipment that went underused in recent winters has been adequately maintained and whether staffing plans can keep up with a more demanding season.
The whiplash between nearly snowless winters and a season that has already exceeded the 30-year average also complicates long-range planning. City agencies calibrate staffing, equipment purchases, and salt contracts based on recent experience and historical averages, but those benchmarks can feel less reliable when conditions swing sharply from one extreme to another. A city that budgeted for 7 or 12 inches of snow now faces the costs associated with a full normal season or more. For residents, the impact is more immediate: longer commutes after storms, icy sidewalks that demand attention, and the simple adjustment of dressing for a winter that finally feels like one. Businesses that depend on winter weather, from snow-removal contractors to outerwear retailers, must also recalibrate after several lean years.
Reading the Data for Yourself
One advantage of the NWS and NOAA data infrastructure is that none of these claims require blind trust. Anyone with an internet connection can pull the same observations that forecasters and climate specialists use. The NWS New York office hosts a climate portal that aggregates local statistics, including seasonal snowfall summaries and links to daily records. From there, users can navigate to the Central Park station, review monthly climate tables, and cross-check how the current winter stacks up against the 1991-2020 normal. For quick snapshots, the daily climate report provides a concise readout of where the season stands as of the latest observation.
For deeper analysis, NOAA’s climate data tools allow users to go beyond headline numbers. Through the data download interface, it is possible to retrieve decades of daily snowfall records for Central Park, compute custom 30-year normals, or explore how the distribution of snow events has changed over time. Researchers can pair those records with the official normals dataset and NOAA’s documented methodology updates to understand exactly how “normal” is defined and how it might evolve in future updates. In a winter when New York City has finally broken out of its snow drought, that transparency gives residents, planners, and policymakers a clear, shared set of facts to work from as they adapt to the return of a more traditional cold-season pattern.
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*This article was researched with the help of AI, with human editors creating the final content.
