New Year's Day ushers in the climatologically-coldest month of the year - January. However, when examining weather over the iast 125+ years, one quickly finds that considerable variability often exists from one year to the next. Just in the last 30 years, New Year's Day high temperatures in Grand Island have ranged from 4° to 61°! This story features a wealth of New Year's Day weather and climate information focused specifically on Grand Island, where January weather records date back to 1896 (official weather data recorded at Central Nebraska Regional Airport since 1938).
Temperatures: According to the entire period of record, the warmest New Year's Day on record was 64° in 1939 and the coldest low temperature was a bone-chilling -23° in 1974. Only 15-of-125 New Year's Days on record (12%) have featured high temperatures of 50° or warmer, and there actually hasn't been one now in 22 years (60° in 2004). On the other end of the thermometer, only 18-of-125 New Year's Days (14%) have featured highs of 15° or colder, but interestingly, three of these have just occurred within the last eight years (2022, 2019, 2018)! However, nothing in recent decades has topped New Year's Day in 1974 in terms of brutal cold, with a high of only 2° and the aforementioned record-setting low of -23°.
Precipitation/Snowfall: As for wintry precipitation, there really isn't anything "major" in the record books associated with New Year's Day itself. According to the entire period of record, only 24-of-130 (18%) of New Year's Days have featured measurable precipitation (including only once in the last 10 years). Although much of the local region was dealing with the aftermath of an historic ice storm back on New Year's Day 2007, nearly all of the actual precipitation from that storm fell a few days prior (mainly Dec. 29-30, 2006). Snowfall-wise, there are no major winter storms to speak of, with a daily total of "only" 5.4" in 1948 leading the way. Somewhat surprisingly, measurable snow has fallen on New Year's Day only TWICE in the last 26 years, most recently four years ago in 2022 when 1.5" fell. As for a few of the highest snow totals when combining New Year's Eve and New Year's Day together, those two days in 1994-95 featured 6.2" of snow in Grand Island, with 3.0" actually falling on New Year's Day 1995. This 1994-95 snow event ranks as the second largest two-day combination of New Year's Eve and New Year's Day snow on record, trailing only 7.0" in 1931-32.
**2025 New Year's Day Recap for Grand Island (an uneventful, seasonable day) **
New Year's Day 2025 weather was overall uneventful and dry. Under mostly sunny skies, the afternoon high temperature topped out at a "seasonably-decent" 40°, following a morning low of 17°. Breezes were not overly-strong...with most of the day averaging 8-14 MPH out of the west-southwest.
| Date | High Temp |
Low Temp |
Precip | Snow | 6 AM Snow Depth |
Weather Basics |
| 1/1/2025 | 40° | 17° | 0.00" | 0.0" | Trace | mostly sunny, "quiet" |
New Year's Day Normals/Extremes for Grand Island (1896-2025):
| Grand Island NE | High Temp | Low Temp | Precip |
| 30-Year Climate "NORMALS" (1991-2020) | 36° | 16° | 0.02" |
| 10-Year AVERAGES (2016-2025) | 29.0° | 11.5° | 0.01" |
| Grand Island All-Time New Year's Day Records (Since 1896) |
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| Top 5 Warmest Highs |
Top 5 Coldest Lows |
Top 5 Highest Precip |
Top 5 Snowiest |
Top 5 Highest 6 AM Snow Depth |
| 64° (1939) | -23° (1974) | 0.52" (1992) | 5.4" (1948) | 16" (1969) |
| 61° (1997, 1964) | -16° (2018) | 0.50" (1960) | 4.2" (1960) | 15" (1974) |
| 60° (2004) | -14° (1928, 1924, 1912) | 0.35" (1911) | 3.5" (1953) | 13" (2010) |
| 59° (1998) | -12° (1979) | 0.31" (1953) | 3.0" (1995, 1992) | 12" (1984) |
| 56° (1896) | -10° (1969) | 0.30" (1910) | 2.0" (1919) | 7" (1953, 1942) |
| When is the last time _______ happened on New Year's Day in Grand Island? |
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| New Year's Day Over THE LAST 30 YEARS...Since 1996 |
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The 10 Most Recent New Year's Days in Grand Island (2016-2025):
| Date | High Temp | Low Temp | Precip | Snow | 6 AM Snow Depth |
Weather Basics |
| 1/1/2016 | 37° | 15° | 0.00" | 0.0" | 1" | sunny with west wind |
| 1/1/2017 | 39° | 23° | 0.00" | 0.0" | 0" | cloudy with southeast wind |
| 1/1/2018 | 4° | -16° | 0.00" | 0.0" | 4" | 4th-coldest & coldest since 1974! |
| 1/1/2019 | 14° | 4° | 0.00" | 0.0" | 1" | mostly cloudy |
| 1/1/2020 | 39° | 25° | Trace | 0.0" | 1" | brief evening rain |
| 1/1/2021 | 36° | 11° | 0.00" | 0.0" | 3" | dry & fairly "normal" |
| 1/1/2022 | 6° | -4° | 0.09" | 1.5" | 0.0" | 8th-coldest! Wind-blown snow |
| 1/1/2023 | 45° | 27° | 0.00" | 0.0" | 0" | Mildest New Year's in 14 years (2009) |
| 1/1/2024 | 30° | 13° | 0.00" | 0.0" | Trace | overcast most of day, but dry |
| 1/1/2025 | 40° | 17° | 0.00" | 0.0" | Trace | mostly sunny, "quiet" |
| 10-Yr Averages | 29.0° | 11.5° | 0.01" | 0.2" |
For more local climate information, check out the following website:
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