2025 Year in Review: Extreme Weather - January through June

The first half of 2025 saw extreme weather events in the U.S. and across the globe, including a huge snow storm on the Gulf Coast the end of the EF-5 tornado drought in the United States.

January: Gulf Coast Snow

2025 started off chilly, wintry, and wet with record-breaking snowfall only three weeks into the year! Several records were broken along the Gulf Coast, with both single-digit low temperatures and over half a foot of snowfall. Beaches along the Gulf Coast were blanketed with 7 to 10 inches of snow on January 21, and satellite imagery showed snow covering states that don’t typically see snow at all!

Baton Rouge, La., experienced overnight low temperatures of 7 degrees, Lafayette, La., experienced 4 degrees, and New Iberia, La., experienced 2 degrees. With average low temperatures in this area hovering within the 40s, dropping to the single digits and having snow accumulations over half a foot is an extreme, historical event. This unusual event was caused by extremely cold and dry air dipping into the Gulf Coast states for a few days before the snowfall. Moisture off the Gulf eventually moved northward over the Gulf Coast states, freezing after contact with the cold air, and covering much of the Gulf Coast in snow!


February: Central U.S. to Tidewater Winter Storm

February 19-20 dumped significant amounts of snow onto the Virginia and northern North Carolina coasts during a notable snowstorm. Like the January Gulf Coast Snowstorm, high pressure sat atop the Virginia and North Carolina coasts, cooling the area with cold, dry Arctic air starting on the 18th. This cold, dry air allowed the area to cool to temperatures low enough to prompt snowfall when moisture from low pressure swung into the area.

As the atmosphere became increasingly unstable, snow amounts dramatically increased. Snow accumulation rates peaked at 1 to 2 inches per hour as the storm progressed. With this snow accumulation continuing over several hours, snow totals up to 14 inches occurred along the Virginia and North Carolina coastlines!


March: Myanmar 7.7 Earthquake

On March 28, 2025, there was a surge of social media activity sharing videos of a building severely swaying as a 7.7 magnitude earthquake occurred near Mandalay, Burma. This large, destructive earthquake buckled roads, collapsed buildings, and displaced over 3.5 million people from their homes. In the wake of this earthquake, millions of displaced people were left scared, injured, and displaced in cities shaken to rubble.

This earthquake was caused by a slip fault between the India and Eurasia tectonic plates along the Sagaing Fault, which is located in Myanmar. The last time this Fault slipped was 35 years ago, in 1990. Over US$10 billion of damage was caused by this earthquake. Millions of citizens residing in Myanmar needed to seek refuge in neighboring countries such as Thailand, Bangladesh, Malaysia, and India due to the damages accrued in their home country.


April: Africa Floods

A series of heavy rain events caused widespread flooding in central Africa throughout the month of April, including in densely populated areas. Poor drainage and weak infrastructure exacerbated the flooding. The Jebba Hydroelectric Power Station dam in Niger released water on several occasions, flooding farm fields and killing 13 people.

There was also large-scale flooding in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which was hit particularly hard in early April. Main roads flooded, causing some to spend all night in their stranded vehicles. The flooding between April 4-11 caused at least 165 deaths and displaced tens of thousands of people.


May: Mother’s Day Blizzard, Goose Bay, Canada

The late season snow storm rocked eastern Canada with heavy snow and strong winds. Record-setting snowfall hit Goose Bay in Labrador, with 30 to 40 cm (12 to 16 inches) falling across the region. The Goose Bay measurement of 39.4 cm on May 11 is the area’s highest one-day May snowfall, with records going back to 1942. Gusts up to 60 to 80 kph (37 to 50 mph) worsened the storm’s effect, causing reduced visibility of less than a quarter mile for several hours.


June: EF-5 Tornado In Enderlin, N.D.

Since the Moore, Okla., tornado in May 2013, the United States was in an EF-5 tornado drought. Many EF-4 tornadoes occurred since then, but the rare EF-5 designation was not used for 12 years. That ended in 2025 when a tornado developed southeast of Enderlin, N.D., and tracked northward late in the evening on June 20. Originally rated an EF-3, the tornado was upgraded to an EF-5 on October 6 after an extensive analysis of the damage path.

The tornado packed estimated top wind speeds of 210 mph and had a peak width of 1.05 miles. It traveled over 12 miles during its 16 minutes on the ground, taking the lives of three people. A large train was hit by the tornado, derailing and tossing 33 of its cars, some of which were full of grain. It was the train derailment and damage that ultimately caused the EF-5 upgrade.

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Image: A frame from an automated video of a tornado and its mesocyclone that derailed multiple train cars near Enderlin, North Dakota and destroyed multiple homes on June 20, 2025. (ChrisWx via Wikimedia Commons)