Polar Vortex Is Strengthening: What It Means For Hudson Valley Winter Temps, Snow

The forecast for warm temperatures on Christmas Day in the Hudson Valley region is a harbinger of what’s to come for most of the country through March, according to a new winter forecast.

On Christmas, the National Weather Service is predicting the region will have a 40 percent chance of rain showers, and a high temperature in the low to mid 40s.

The northern part of the region has a possible chance for a white Christmas, though the chance diminishes the closer you are to New York City, according to the Weather Channel.

The National Weather Service is currently predicting snow to fall in the Hudson Valley on Tuesday.

Relatively warm temperatures are expected to continue into the early part of 2026 in the East as the stratospheric polar vortex strengthens at the beginning of the year, according to The Weather Channel’s outlook.

It may sound counterintuitive, but the stronger a polar vortex is, the less impactful it is, according to The Weather Channel. A stratospheric polar vortex, which is higher up in the atmosphere and usually stable, differs from the better-known tropospheric polar vortex, which is lower down in the atmosphere and typically brings severe cold snaps to mid-latitude states.

The private weather service’s January to March outlook for the Hudson Valley calls for:

• January: above average temperatures
• February: well above average temperatures
• March: about average temperatures

Highlights of The Weather Channel’s outlook include:

• January will likely continue the late-December pattern with above-average warmth across the southern two-thirds of the country.
• February could see the warmest weather relative to average along the East Coast.
• Without the polar vortex in play, conditions are expected to resemble La Niña: warmer than average in the south and cooler in the north.
• The northern U.S. will likely see wetter-than-average conditions, while the southern U.S. is more likely to be drier.