Very warm and dry winter
This winter (December 1, 2025- February 28, 2026) is officially the second warmest in Nebraska with an average temperature of 33.2°F. This fell just short of the winter of 1991-1992, which came in at 33.3°F. The average high temperature of 47.3°F is the warmest on record by almost 3.0°F. The previous record warm average temperature was 44.4°F in the winter of 1999-2000.
It also was the fourth driest winter on record with an average of 0.66" and that number is influenced by better moisture in southeast Nebraska. Most of the central and western sections of Nebraska had under a half inch and some spots in southwest Nebraska received almost nothing. Figure 1 shows that this past winter was in unprecedented territory when you combine lack of precipitation and warm temperatures. It also is a great visual explanation for why we had record drought expansion across the state this winter.
Figure 1. Temperature and precipitation quad chart for the winter of 2026
