This storm delivered the first widespread “Big” regional snowfall of 12″ or more to the area since the March 13-14, 2023 storm which was Albany’s last single storm snowfall of at least 10″. That March storm, however, was very different in character from this one in that the snow was dense, heavy, and wet which resulted in widespread power outages due to downed branches and trees with snowfall in higher elevation areas ranging from 24-36″, higher totals than what resulted with this storm.
With this storm, it was the national scope of impact and bitter cold locally that were the most noteworthy characteristics. Winter storm and ice storm warnings stretched from eastern New Mexico through the south, mid Atlantic and Northeast between Friday January 23 through Monday January 26, 2026 in what was a rare combination of widespread cold colliding with a storm to create an epic national winter event.
National Weather Service Winter Storm Alerts as of 5pm on Saturday January 24, 2025
Locally, the extreme cold resulted in the storm producing a particularly dry powdery snow. Widespread storm totals between 7am Sunday January 25 and 7pm Monday January 26 ranged from 12″ to 18″. Locally higher amounts up to 24″ were observed in the higher terrain of the eastern Catskills with lower amounts of 8-11″ across the southern Adirondacks into northern Washington, western Rutland, and western Bennington counties. Most of the snow was down by 1-3am on the 26th with only a couple of additional inches of snow falling into the afternoon on Monday.
Storm Total at the Albany Climate Site (Airport) = 12.6″. This storm missed the #10 spot for heaviest January snowstorms on record
SNOW PRODUCTION AND SNOWFLAKE QUALITY
The brunt of the snow fell between 7am and midnight on the 25th and was largely generated by isentropic lift, which is essentially the process of warm moist air being forced to ascend, or in other words, overrun a low level dome of cold air…