March 2025 Was Very Windy, 6th Warmest on Record

Fig. 1: The ECMWF/ERA5 wind gust anomaly categories across the U.S. during March 2025 (from the Washington Post).

Discussion: March 2025 was unusually windy with much of the Central and Interior East U.S. observing MUCH ABOVE normal wind gusts (Fig. 1). According to the Washington Post, based on ECMWF/ERA5 data, Michigan observed their windiest March on record while the second windiest March on record was observed in 9 states (Wisconsin, Nebraska, Iowa, New York, Tennessee, Missouri, Vermont, Arkansas, and Ohio). The high wind was propelled by a polar vortex centered over western Hudson Bay forcing strong wind across much of the northern U.S.

March 2025 was the 6^th warmest in the 131-year climatology (Fig. 2). MUCH ABOVE normal warmth was observed across much of the Central and Northeast U.S. including top 5 all-time for Kansas and Nebraska. Only Florida and California were near normal in the contiguous 48 states. Nationally, the U.S. averaged near normal precipitation with the wet zone centered on Michigan (2^nd wettest) and Wisconsin (5^th wettest) while West Virgia and North Dakota were in the top 10 driest (Fig. 3).

Fig. 2: State temperature rankings for the month of March 2025.

Fig. 3: State precipitation rankings for the month of March 2025.