Meteorological Winter 2025–26: Cold, Snowy, and Historically Notable Across the Region

Meteorological Winter 2025–26 will go down as one of the coldest and snowiest winters in over a decade for much of the Mid-Atlantic, including Delaware and the I-95 corridor. While snowfall was impressive, precipitation overall leaned slightly below average in many locations, making it a cold and snowy, but somewhat dry winter season. Preliminary data […]

Meteorological Winter 2025–26 will go down as one of the coldest and snowiest winters in over a decade for much of the Mid-Atlantic, including Delaware and the I-95 corridor. While snowfall was impressive, precipitation overall leaned slightly below average in many locations, making it a cold and snowy, but somewhat dry winter season.

Preliminary data from the National Weather Service shows that several cities experienced their coldest winter since the mid-2010s, and in some cases, the early 1990s.

A Historically Cold Winter

Across the region, average temperatures finished several degrees below normal.

In Georgetown, the average winter temperature was 33.8°F, which is 5.2 degrees below normal. This ranks as the 8th coldest meteorological winter since 1893-94, marking the coldest winter there in over three decades.

In Wilmington, the average temperature came in at 31.8°F, or 3.9 degrees below normal, making it the coldest winter since 2014-15.

Philadelphia, Allentown, Trenton, Reading, Mount Pocono, and Atlantic City all saw their coldest meteorological winter since at least 2014-15, while Atlantic City Marina experienced its coldest since the historic winter of 1993-94.

Snowfall: A Major Comeback Year

Snowfall was the headline story this winter, particularly along and north of the I-95 corridor.

In Wilmington, seasonal snowfall reached 24.0 inches, which is 7.2 inches above normal. This makes it the snowiest winter since 2013-14, breaking a decade-long stretch of relatively modest snowfall seasons.

Farther north, Trenton recorded 44.3 inches, ranking as the 6th snowiest winter on record. Philadelphia measured 30.1 inches, its snowiest winter since 2013-14.

Although snowfall data was not calculated for Georgetown’s seasonal totals, February alone brought impactful snow events, and nearby observing sites confirm this winter was significantly snowier than recent years across southern Delaware.

Precipitation: Snowy But Slightly Dry

Despite the frequent snow, total liquid precipitation was generally below normal in many locations.

Wilmington finished with 8.14 inches, about 1.77 inches below average.
Georgetown, however, was one of the few spots to edge slightly above normal, finishing at 9.17 inches, just 0.11 inches above average.

This reflects the nature of the season: colder air masses favored snow production, but overall storm systems were not especially moisture-rich.

February Sealed the Deal

February reinforced the winter’s cold theme. Georgetown averaged 5.7 degrees below normal for the month, while Wilmington finished 3.4 degrees below average. Several late-month warmups pushed temperatures near 60 degrees, but they were not enough to offset persistent cold earlier in the season.