2025 Was the Fourth-Warmest Year on Record as Billion-Dollar Disasters Piled Up

    A warm start to winter helped lift 2025 toward the top of the list of the warmest years on record for the contiguous United States. Last year also made its mark with numerous billion-dollar weather and climate disasters.

    Firefighters in California battling a blaze last September in Klamath National Forest.
    Firefighters in California battling a blaze last September in Klamath National Forest.

    The U.S. had an average temperature of 37.8 Degrees in December, more than 5 degrees above the 1901-2000 average, to rank as the fifth-warmest first month of meteorological winter on record. The warmth was most pronounced in the west, with nine states recording their warmest December on record.

    Utah had the biggest departure from normal, just over 11 degrees above average. Wyoming was 11 degrees warmer than normal. Colorado was just over 10 degrees warmer than average in December. New Mexico was nearly 10 degrees above average. Arizona's December was 9 degrees above normal. California was nearly 7 degrees above average for the month.

    The nation's warm December finished out a year marked by unusual warmth and several costly disasters. The average annual temperature for the contiguous U.S. was 54.63 degrees, 2.63 degrees above the 20th-century average, making 2025 the fourth-warmest year in the 131-year record. 2025 was also noteworthy for seeing the third-highest number of billion-dollar weather and climate disasters.

    Extreme Weather Punctuated 2025

    The U.S. Climate Extremes Index (USCEI) for 2025 was 58 percent above average, ranking 12th-highest in the 116-year record," according to the National Centers for Environmental Information annual climate report for 2025. The USCEI is a metric developed by NOAA to track changes in the frequency and intensity of extreme weather and climate events across the contiguous United States.

    Temperature extremes were widespread in 2025, as elevated nighttime lows covered over 85% of the western U.S. and more than half of the Lower 48. Extreme daytime highs were nearly as expansive, and the Southwest ranked in the driest third historically, including its fourth-largest dry footprint on record.

    A Long List of Costly Disasters

    From California wildfires to central U.S. tornadoes, 2025 saw 23 billion-dollar disasters, totaling $115 billion in damages and underscoring the growing frequency and cost of extreme weather nationwide. It was the third-highest year for billion-dollar weather and climate disasters behind only 2023 and 2024.

    "As the frequency of billion-dollar disasters rises, the average length of time between them has fallen — from 82 days during the 1980s to 16 days during the last 10 years (2016-2025)," reported researchers with non-profit Climate Central. "The average time between billion-dollar disasters in 2025 was just 10 days."

    There were 1,559 tornadoes reported in 2025, according to preliminary data from NOAA's Storm Prediction Center. It was the fifth-largest annual tornado count on record and 127% of the 1991-2020 annual average. The first EF-5 tornado since 2013 struck near Enderlin, North Dakota, on June 20 with peak winds of 210 mph. The powerful twister killed three people and derailed train cars.