Weather Highlights of 2026

JANUARY 

1 - The half-inch of snow that fell this morning was the first measurable snow to fall on New Year’s Day since 2010, and the most to fall since 1987 (when 0.5" also fell).   

20 - Today's high in Central Park of 26° replicated the high on this date last year and in 2024. This year's mean temperature, however, was colder as the low was 16°, last year's was 17°, and 2024's was 18°.  

25 - A nasty winter storm lashed the area mostly between sunrise and sunset. Heavy snow fell during the morning and then mixed with and then changed to sleet in the early afternoon, accumulating 11.4" in Central Park (nearly three inches of it was sleet), a record for the date and the biggest snowstorm in five years.  (The 1.80" of liquid precipitation tied the 1978 record for 1/25.)   

Besides the snow, very cold air was in place after Arctic air moved in Friday night. When the first flakes began falling the mercury was just 10° (wind chill was around 0°), rising to 15° by mid-afternoon. However, after dark, the temperature rose into the low 20s. This was one of NYC's coldest snowstorms on record.   

 

FEBRUARY  

1 - Yesterday & today had the same high/low of 24°/10°. Of the 353 pairs of days with the same high/low in Central Park (since 1869), this is the coldest pair.   

8 - Clear skies, windy and frigid with a high/low of 18°/3° (24 degrees below average). Beginning yesterday evening the temperature was in the single digits for 15 hours through late this morning  Wind chills were in the -10° to -15° range during the morning. (Going back to 1990, February's coldest reading has averaged 13°).  

Today was Super Bowl Sunday and the day dawned with the coldest low temperature on the day of this event, one degree colder than Central Park's low on Super Bowl Sunday in 1985 (when it was played on 1/20).  However, based on the mean temperature, Super Bowl Sunday 1972 continued as the coldest (high/low of 15°/5°).    

10 - Today was the last day of a 19-day streak with highs colder than 40°, the longest such streak since the winter of 2004, when there was one of 21 days.  During this streak, the average high/low was 27°/14°, which was 13 degrees colder than average. 

22 - A rapidly intensifying nor'easter brought blizzard conditions to the New York metro area tonight, and it would continue through tomorrow afternoon. Wet snow began falling in the morning but significant accumulation didn't begin until the evening hours. For much of the day visibility was less than one-half mile and strong winds gusted between 30 and 45 mph after dark. By midnight, 8.8" of snow was reported in Central Park, which was a record amount for the date. 

23 - The blizzard that moved into New York yesterday evening continued through the early hours of the afternoon today and dumped 10.9" on top of the 8.8" that fell yesterday, making this the City's ninth biggest snowstorm on record (and February's fourth biggest). Like yesterday, today's snowfall was a record amount for the date. And it was the first measurable snow to fall on 2/23 since 2001 (when 0.4" was measured). 

Unlike last month's 11.4" snowstorm on 1/25, which featured bitterly cold temperatures, this snowstorm had temperatures close to freezing, and after the snow stopped in the afternoon the mercury went above freezing for a number of hours, topping out at 35° early in the evening.

 

MARCH  

5 - For the second year in a row more than an inch of rain fell on this date. About half an inch fell during the morning and then an inch fell after dark. (1.71" fell last year.)

8 - The year's first reading of 60+ occurred as the mercury soared to 69°. This was Central's first reading in the 60s since 11/9 and the warmest since 10/19 (70°). Today's high was 18 degrees warmer than yesterday's. 

This touch of spring came five weeks later than the average date for the first 60+ reading.  (3/8 is close to what the average date of the first 60+ was in the 19th century.)  In the past 100 years, 20 years have had their first reading of 60+ fall on a later date than 3/8 (the latest date being 4/8 in 1970). 

9 - The day after the year's first reading of 60+, which was five weeks later than average, today had the year's first reading in the 70s (about a week earlier than average). The high of 73° was 25 degrees warmer than average and more typical of mid-May. This was just the 10th year to have its first reading of 60° or warmer followed the next day by a high of 70° or warmer.  (By contrast, the high on the day after last year's first reading in the 60s was only 33°.)

Besides being a little warmer than yesterday (which had a high of 69°), yesterday's overcast skies turned clear today, and the humidity was much lower (22% at its lowest point this afternoon).     

10 - Central Park experienced its earliest high temperature of 80° or warmer today. (The previous earliest date was March 13 in 1990 when the high reached 85°.) This came 15 days after a blizzard buried the City under nearly 20 inches of snow. 

Today's high of 80° came one day after the year's first reading in the 70s (73°) and two days after the first reading in the 60s (69°).  Only once before, in 1892, had this sequence of temperatures occurred (April 2-4).  Today was the third date in a row in which the mean temperature was more than 20 degrees warmer than average, something which last occurred in April 2023.

18 - Although it can't compete with some of the cold, wintry conditions that have occurred on this date in the past, today's high/low of 37°/25° (12 degrees below average) was the coldest reading in the second half of March in four years and tied for the tenth coldest mean temperature in the second half of March in the years since 2000.   

26 - This was the earliest date for a home opener for the Mets, but the risk paid off as game-time temperatures rose into the mid-70s, more than twenty degrees above average, and more than 20 degrees warmer than yesterday (and tomorrow would see temperatures nearly 30 degrees chillier). And the cherry on top was the Mets victory over the Pirates, 11-7.   

Today's high of 76°, however, wasn't the warmest reading this month; that was 80° on the 10th (until the 31st). 

31 - March ended on a summery note as the high/low was 81°/60°. Today's high was the second in the 80s this month and topped the high of 80° three weeks earlier (the earliest reading in the 80s on record). This was just the fifth March to have two high temperatures in the 80s (and the first since March 1990, which had five in a row). Today's low was the first of 60° or milder in March in ten years and just the second instance this century.

Today's high was the sixth in the 70s or warmer this month, the most since March 2012 when there were eight. 

 

APRIL 

1 - Today's high of 80° followed yesterday's high of 81°, and though warmer readings have occurred on these two days (86° on March 31, 1998; 83° on April 1, 1917, and 82° in 1978) this was the first instance of back-to-back highs in the 80s on these two days. 

3 - After a gray and foggy morning, and temperatures in the mid-40s, the sky began to brighten and the temperature warmed into the 50s by the time of the first pitch at the Yankees' home opener (shortly before 2:00). And by the end of the game (which the Yankees won) the mercury had risen into the mid-60s. Still, this was the sixth year in a row in which the Mets' home opener was played in warmer temperatures (this year's game, played eight days earlier, had temperatures in the mid-70s).

5 - Today was Easter Sunday and the 0.19" of rain that fell during the afternoon was the most to fall on this holiday since 2002 when 0.28" was measured.  Temperatures were seasonable. 

8 - The day's low temperature of 30° was the coldest reading in a little more than three weeks and the coldest reading in April in five years (28° on 4/2/21). In the years since 1980 the coldest reading in April has averaged 33°.  

15 - Today had the year’s first reading of 90+ (six weeks ahead of the average date). A record for the date, it was the sixth earliest 90-degree reading on record. Today’s high/low of 90°/67° followed yesterday’s 87°/64°.  

Looking at rainfall this month, the 0.35” measured in Central Park in the first half of April was the least since 2010, and the third least amount since 1970.   

16 - Today's high of 89° followed highs of 87° on the 14th and and 90° yesterday. This was the fifth April with a streak of three days or more with highs of 85° or warmer. This morning's low of 71° was the second earliest low in the 70s on record (two days later than the low of 70° on 4/14 in 2023). 

17 - Today's high of 81° was the fourth day in a row with a high of 80° or warmer. This was the fifth time a streak of four or more days in the 80s/90s occurred in April. (March 1998 also had a five-day streak.) Additionally, this was the seventh high of 80+ this year - by far the earliest date for this amount. The previous earliest date was May 1 in 1985.  

24 - Today was the 11th year this century with very low humidity (25% or lower) on 4/24. This is the most instances of low humidity of any calendar date, breaking what had been a five-way tie with 3/30, 4/9, 4/16, and 4/30. (Average humidity during April afternoons is in the 45% to 55% range.) 

25 - Rain moved in late in the morning and continued for the rest of the day, amounting to 1.36". This was almost twice the amount that fell in the first 24 days of the month (0.73"). And it was a cold rain, with afternoon and evening temperatures stuck in the low 40s, which was nearly 25 degrees below average.