DECEMBER TO JANUARY WEATHER REPORT

During December and January, I wanted to do a little experiment where I would track the weather of the two months and see what our coldest and warmest days were. From this experiment, I wanted to determine which month was the coldest and had the most days that it snowed. I used The Weather Channel website to consistently get all my information on the weather's highs and lows (also when it snowed and when it didn’t). I started my research on the 1st of December, and I ended it on January 17th.

In the first four weeks of December, it snowed four times. The first time was on the 2nd, and the next times were on the 11th and 14th. The last time it snowed in December was the 17th. All the times it snowed, it wasn’t a lot and didn’t usually stay for longer than a day or two. We also experienced very low temperatures like 5–8°F, but we also had days where it got up to 60°F, which is very warm for what you would expect in December. December was definitely a warmer and drier winter with very little snow compared to what we've experienced in past years. For example, in December of 2023, we had quite a bit of snow and had five snow days out of school, compared to 2024 when we didn’t have any.

In January, we have had four days that it snowed, one of them being on the 2nd of January, when we got the most snow we had all winter (2024–2025). It also snowed on the 10th, 12th, and 14th, but these were only light snowfalls. In the first two weeks of January, we have already had more days in the low 20°F range, and it even got down to -3°F during the nights and early mornings, with the wind also making it feel colder.

DECEMBER HAS A VARIETY OF DIFFERENT TEMPERATURES; GRAPHIC BY RAELEE DAY

I think this winter has shown us how much climate change is actually affecting us, and maybe not as slowly as everyone thinks or may hope. I have used the 2023–2024 winter as an example, but it was also warmer than many other years recorded in the past. So just try to remember that climate change isn’t a new thing, and you are still able to do things to help slow it down.