BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) – In the midst of all the cold weather we’ve had lately, it’s easy to forget that most of 2025 was actually warmer than normal. In fact, it was one of Burlington’s warmest years on record. Despite a cold December and cooler-than-normal conditions in February and November, 2025 finished as the ninth warmest year on record in Burlington, with an annual average temperature of 48.2 degrees.
Last year’s warmth during spring, summer and early fall was enough to overpower the chilly winter months, continuing a striking trend: every year so far this decade has ranked among Burlington’s top ten warmest on record. Reliable records for Burlington go back to the late 1800s, spanning more than 130 years. All ten of the warmest years on record have occurred within the last 30 years.
Annual average temperature is just one way to look at the year. While there were both warmer and cooler days, there was significantly more extreme heat than extreme cold. In 2025, Burlington set 12 new warm temperature records, but didn’t set any cold temperature records, although we got close a couple of times.
The city set seven new daily high temperature records in 2025, including the hottest day of the year on June 23, when the temperature climbed to 99 degrees. It was one of only nine times on record that Burlington has hit 99 or warmer, and was the city’s hottest day since August of 2001. Burlington hit 98 degrees the next day, June 24, setting another daily record. There was one more record-setting 98 degree day on August 12.
Burlington hit 86 degrees on October 5, which tied the record set just two years earlier on October 4, 2023 for Burlington’s warmest October temperature ever recorded. The high of 84 the next day, October 6, was also a daily record. Most recently, we set a new record high of 63 on December 19, shattering the previous record that was set all the way back in 1895 by 14 degrees.
Burlington didn’t just see record daytime warmth in 2025. There were several record-setting nights too. Record warm overnight lows were set on five dates: 47 on March 15, 50 on March 16, 59 on April 29, 73 on June 24, and 74 on July 6.
The trend of record warmth outpacing record cold extends beyond just 2025. In a stable climate with no warming or cooling, you’d have roughly equal chances of setting new record highs or record lows. Instead, Burlington had more than six times more warm temperature records than cold temperature records in the last 25 years. Roughly 20% of all of Burlington’s heat records from the last 130+ years were set in the 21st century, but only 3% of cold temperature records were broken during the same time period.
While other cities in our region did set a handful of record lows in 2025, the overall trends remain the same no matter which city you look at. We saw more extreme heat than extreme cold in 2025.
