Why Great Lakes ice cover matters for winter snow
Learn how lake effect snow forms and why low ice cover on the Great Lakes means more snow for the Midwest and upstate New York.
If December felt especially snowy, the numbers back it up. The final month of 2025 was the snowiest December in years for several New York cities.
The month ended under a deep blanket of snow after back-to-back winter storms battered western and central New York. December closed with a powerful bomb cyclone that swept across the Northeast, bringing blizzard-like conditions, strong winds over the Great Lakes and several feet of heavy lake-effect snow.
In Rochester, December 2025 was the snowiest December in 25 years, though it still fell short of the record 46.7 inches set in December 2010. Buffalo’s snowiest December remains 2017, when more than 64 inches fell around the Christmas holiday, paralyzing the region, according to the National Weather Service.
Syracuse also experienced an exceptionally snowy month, recording nearly twice its normal December snowfall of 30.6 inches, Weather Service data show.
How snowy was December in these New York cities?
Here’s how much snow fell in December 2025:
- Syracuse: 60.8 inches
- Rochester: 37.8 inches
- Binghamton: 27.9 inches
- Buffalo: 25.2 inches
- Albany: 18.8 inches
- New York City (Central Park): 7.2 inches
Syracuse’s total was significantly boosted by 24.2 inches of lake-effect snow measured at Syracuse Hancock International Airport on Dec. 30, according to the National Weather Service. That single-day total ranked as the second-snowiest day in the city’s recorded history. The snowiest day on record occurred Feb. 15, 1946, when 34 inches fell, Weather Service data show.
