January 2026 was New York's coldest and the snowiest January in four years. Through 1/23 January’s average temperature was slightly above average, but then Arctic air swept in and anchored itself over the Eastern half of the US, and the final eight days of the month were 16 degrees colder than average (high/low of 22°/12°), making for one of the coldest ends to January on record.
During this eight-day streak every day had a high of 27° or colder. This deep freeze created the most ice on the Hudson and East Rivers since February 2015 (NYC's third coldest February on record).
Despite how bitterly cold January ended, the month overall was “just” 3.3 degrees colder than average (December was 5.3 below average). This was due to a nine-day stretch from 1/6 to 1/14 that was nine degrees above average (average high/low was 48°/37°). Take out these nine days and the rest of the month was eight degrees below average.
January had 12 days with highs of 32° or colder, the most since January 2014. The month's coldest reading was 9° which happened on two days (the 24th and 30th). This was the coldest reading in January since 2019 (when the low was 2° on 1/31). The highs on those days were 17° and 18°, respectively.
The 11.4" of snow that piled up during the snowstorm of 1/25 was a record amount for that date and was the biggest January snowfall in ten years. The storm was characterized by unusually cold temperatures, which were in the frigid 10° to 15° range. Only a few other snowstorms have occurred in temperatures this cold.
2.70” of precipitation was reported, in January, about an inch below average. Two-thirds of it fell on 1/25, the day of the snowstorm. (The 1.80” measured tied the 1978 record for the date.) Although precipitation was lower than average, the month's 13.9" of snow was 5.1" above average.
Finally, December-January was the coldest since the winter of 2010-11. And the 21.1” of snow that fell in these two months was the most since the winter of 2016.
Canadian geese resting on an ice floe in the Hudson River (1/31/26).
On January 1st, the 0.5 inches of snow that fell was the first snowfall on that date since 1987.
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