A Look Back at June 2025's Weather and Climate in the Capital Region

Month Highlights at Albany

• Warmer than average:Monthly mean temperature of 69.4 degrees (+1.0)
• Tied with June 1876 and 1908 for 28th warmest on record to date
• The dewpoint remained at or above 70 degrees at Albany for 37 consecutive hours between Noon Sunday June 22 to 1am Tuesday June 24
• Highest Dewpoint: 77 degrees at 12pm on June 23
• Highest Heat Index: 107 degrees at 2pm on June 23
• High end heat wave: June 23-25

• Two record highs tied, 23rd, and 24th; one record high minimum tied on the 25th
• 4 Days with highs of 90 degrees or higher
• Highest Temperature: 96 degrees on the 23rd and 24th
• Slightly wetter than average: 4.58” of rain (+0.53”)
• 24 hour rainfall record set on the 7th: 1.74”
• Significant but localized flash flood event in Albany County from Knox to Altamont on the 6th
• Six thunderstorm days at Albany, no widespread or significant severe weather during the month
• Considerable Canadian wildfire smoke both aloft and at times at the surface from the 2nd through the 12th

SUMMARY

The weather through June 2025 was variable with a lot of the month’s rain concentrated through the first two weeks. Temperatures were up and down with more cool than warm through the first two weeks which coincided with the rainier part of the month. There was, however, a short period of some heat from the 4th through the 6th with the first 90 degree day of the season at Albany landing on the 5th.

That hot day, however, came only two days after a particularly chilly morning on the 3rd where temperatures dropped into the 30s in many areas, this, playing along with the month’s theme of a lot of day to day variability in the weather.

The “High End” heat wave from the 23rd through the 25th was the most noteworthy event of the month with record highs at Albany of 96 degrees tied on both the 23rd and the 24th and a record high minimum temperature of 74 degrees tied on the 25th. What was particularly remarkable about this heat wave is that it came with high humidity. The dewpoint in fact remained at or above 70 degrees at Albany for a particularly long thirty seven consecutive hours between noon Sunday June 22nd through 1am on Tuesday June 24th.

Typically, but not always, high heat events across the local area that feature temperatures of 95 degrees or higher come with much lower humidity, dewpoints in the 50s or 60s, versus dewpoints in the 70s which was the case with the event this month. Humid air is harder to heat than drier air which makes the lofty highs in this June’s heat wave impressive.

Peak heat indices on especially the 23rd, which is when dewpoints peaked, generally ranged from 104 degrees to a record for the New York State mesonet to date, of 112 degreese at Whitehall in Washington County. (Note: The Whitehall mesonet site is located on the Champlain canal with evaporation off the water locally elevating the dewpoint.) The peak dewpoint hit 77 degrees at Albany at noon on the 23rd with a peak heat index for the event at 2pm on the 23rd of a whopping 107 degrees, with heat indices on this day of 100 degrees or higher lasting for 6-7 consecutive hours.

The heat wave is what brought June’s monthly average temperature up with the month ending with a mean temperature of 69.4 degrees which was 1.0 degree higher than the 1991-2020 thirty year average and landed June 2025 in the Albany area tied with June 1976 and June 1908 for the 28th warmest on record (records to 1874,) and tied with 1976 for 10th warmest when looking at records from the Albany airport which began in 1938.

Hazy, smoky skies were also a notable feature in June, a fixture through the first half of the month, with frequent intrusions of Canadian wildfire smoke. The smoke was more frequently aloft, but occasionally did come in low impacting air quality at times. The smoke did not impact weather conditions, however, but did set off some pretty spectacular sunrises and sunsets.

Fourteen of June’s days at Albany were warmer than average, fourteen cooler than average, and two right at average with quite a bit of a back and forth from very warm to cool, to very hot, back to cooler again through the month.

The daily mean temperature departure bar graph for June 2025 at Albany shows that the magnitude of the warmer days (five days with a departure of 10 degrees or more) was greater than the magnitude of the cooler days (one day with a departure of 10 degrees or more.) This is why the month finished a bit warmer than average and also follows a climate warming trend of warmer periods becoming warmer over time versus colder periods which are becoming less cold over time. (A daily temperature departure is calculated by adding the day’s maximum and minimum temperatures and then dividing by 2.)

Warmer than average conditions were also observed at the other four local climate reporting sites in June 2025 with Poughkeepsie and Bennington, VT coming in much warmer than the 1991-2020 average.

Human induced climate change, largely through greenhouse gas emissions, chiefly carbon dioxide, has increased the odds of June, as well as the rest of the months in the year, being warmer than average. And although this June was not too much warmer than average, it was warmer than typical.

June on average now is 3.9 degrees warmer in the Capital Region than it was in 1970. The chart below from our partners at Climate Central shows the year to year variability of the weather with the climate line showing the steady upward trend in temperature with colder Junes becoming less cold over time and warmer Junes, like this June, getting warmer.

RAINFALL

The pattern was particularly active through the first half of the month with numerous frontal and storm system passages which produced regular intervals of rainfall, some of which was locally heavy.

The most prominent system early in the month generated convection on the 6th that was responsible for flash flooding in parts of northern and western Albany counties from Knox to Altamont. This was followed by an unusually heavy zone of stratiform rain with convective elements Saturday morning the 7th where rainfall rates ranged from 3/4” to 1.5”/hour for several hours resulting in 1.50” to 2.00” of rain to fall in around five hours. 1.74” of rain was observed at Albany in that time frame setting a 24 hour rainfall record for the date. That rain came after 1.04” of rain had fallen on the 6th with the combined two day total accounting for about 60% of June’s rainfall at Albany. In total, 4.58” of rain was observed at Albany in June 2025 which was 0.53” above the thirty year average or 117% of normal.

A more typical summer pattern of scattered downpours and thunderstorms took hold through the second half of June resulting in highly variable rainfall amounts on any given day that rain fell across the area, which is typical during the warm season.

In fact rainfall for the month varied considerably throughout the region with Glens Falls coming in over an inch below average with Pittsfield, MA particularly dry, coming in with a rainfall deficit of almost three and a half inches.

June 2025 rainfall amounts for the local climate sites

• Glens Falls
  2.56” (-1.16”)
• Poughkeepsie
  3.98” (+0.07”)
• Bennington, VT
  3.94” (-0.11”)
• Pittsfield, MA
  1.16” (-3.42”)