Quarterly Climate Impacts and Outlook for the Northeast Region for December 2025–February 2026. Dated March 2026.
Winter was 3.3°F below normal for the Northeast, in the coldest third of all years. It was the coldest winter since 2014–15 for the region. The Northeast had its eighth-driest winter with 71% of normal precipitation. It was among the 20 driest winters for nine states.
Quarterly Climate Impacts and Outlook for the Midwest Region for December 2025–February 2026. Dated March 2026.
Winter temperatures ranged from above to below normal from west to east across the Midwest. This general west-to-east pattern persisted across all three winter months. The Midwest had its 7th driest winter (December to February) on record, with region wide precipitation just 61% of normal.
Quarterly Climate Impacts and Outlook for the Gulf of Maine Region for December 2025–February 2026. Dated March 2026.
Winter featured below- to near-normal temperatures and below- to near-normal precipitation for much of the region. It was the coldest winter in over 10 years for some New England sites and the second-driest winter on record for Fredericton, N.B. Winter snowfall varied, with Boston, Massachusetts, having its ninth-snowiest winter.
Quarterly Climate Impacts and Outlook for the Western Region for December 2025–February 2026. Dated March 2026.
Winter temperatures were much above average for all of the West and record breaking for many locations. Drier-than-average conditions occurred for much of Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Colorado, and Wyoming, with some areas receiving less than 25% of average precipitation.
Quarterly Climate Impacts and Outlook for Alaska and Northwestern Canada for December 2025–February 2026, with an outlook for April–June 2026. Dated March 2026.
ECCC, NOAA, and partners created these outlooks to inform the public about recent impacts within their respective regions. Each regional report contains easy-to-understand language, and anyone can access them through the U.S. Drought Portal.
Quarterly Climate Impacts and Outlook for the Pacific Region for December 2025–February 2026. Dated March 2026.
Quarterly Climate Impacts and Outlook for the Canadian and U.S. Prairies and High Plains for December 2025–February 2026, with an outlook for April–June 2026. Dated March 2026.
NOAA’s National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS) and Physical Sciences Laboratory are partnering with the California State Climatologist/California Department of Water Resources, NOAA’s National Weather Service and National Centers for Environmental Information, and the California-Nevada Adaptation Program (a NOAA CAP team) on the Sector-Specific Drought Early Warning Outlook – Southern California Pilot.
NOAA’s National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS) and Physical Sciences Laboratory are partnering with the California State Climatologist/California Department of Water Resources, NOAA’s National Weather Service and National Centers for Environmental Information, and the California-Nevada Adaptation Program (a NOAA CAP team) on the Sector-Specific Drought Early Warning Outlook – Southern California Pilot.
NOAA’s National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS) was authorized by Congress in 2006 (Public Law 109–430) and reauthorized in 2014 and 2019 with an interagency mandate to coordinate and integrate drought research, building upon existing federal, tribal, state, and local partnerships in support of creating a national drought early warning information system.