June 2025 Weather Recap: All About The Heat Wave
June 2025 was 1.2 degrees above average (its average high was 0.7 above average, the average low was 1.7 above average), and rainfall was well below average (2.46").
The highlight of the month was the intense 3-day heat wave of June 23-25; with an average high/low of 97°/81° (14 degrees above average), it was one of the hottest 3-day heat waves on record.
The high of 99º on 6/24, a record for the date, was the hottest reading in Central Park since 2012, and the hottest in June since 1966. Only three other Junes have had a hotter reading (and four others had 99° as their hottest). And for the first time in five years, Central Park had a low in the 80s (in fact, three days did). Before this June, there had been only two instances of 80+ lows in June (6/30 in 1901, 6/26 in 1952).
Among New York's nearly 150 heat waves that lasted three days, June 2025's ranks as the fifth hottest based on average high temperature. However, looking at average low temperature, it ranks first. And it also ranks first based on mean temperature (average of the high/low). This June had only the fourth 3-day streak of lows in the 80s (which coincided with its heat wave).
The first day of the heat wave was the year's first reading in the 90s, about a month later than the typical date for this occurrence. (Last year's first 90 was on 6/20, 2020's was on 6/22.)
For the first time, two back-to-back Junes had 10 or more days with lows of 70+. This June had 11; only three other Junes have had more lows in the 70s (the average number is six).
The range between June's coolest and hottest readings was 49 degrees (50° and 99°). This was the widest range since 1966 (52° and 101°). The last time there was a greater disparity was in 1945, when the coolest reading was 44°, hottest was 97°.
The month's above average temperatures were tempered by six days with highs cooler than 70°, the most since 2009. Four of those days were consecutive (6/14-17). One of these days, 6/15, was Father's Day, and the high temperature of 64° was the coolest ever recorded on the holiday.
With rainfall of 2.46" measured (four inches less than what fell in May), this was the 40th driest June, two inches below average. The two days with the most rain accounted for more than half of the month's rain: 0.70" on 6/7, 0.65" on 6/19. This was the sixth consecutive June with less than three inches of rainfall.
Here are recaps of nine previous Junes: