The weather we had in Jackson Hole in December 2025 can be summed up with the title of an old Clint Eastwood movie: “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly”.
Warm temperatures and rain in December are not the norm for Jackson Hole. But unusual weather patterns cause unusual weather, and that is what we had this past month or so, since November, actually.
November 2025 had record warm temperatures and was exceptionally dry. December 2025 only surrendered the dry part, as it became exceptionally wet but remained warm, warmer than any December in recent memory. Nevertheless, this past December was neither the warmest nor the wettest December on record.
The Bad: Valley Temps
Data from the Jackson Climate Station on the north end of town has the longest, most consistent record of weather data in the valley, and it’s what I use for historical comparisons. To begin, the average high temperature in Jackson for the month of December is 29 degrees. December of 2025’s average high temperature for the month was 38.8 degrees, or about 10 degrees warmer than normal.
That fell short of the record for the warmest average high temperature in Jackson in December, by several tenths of a degree. December of 1933 still holds this record with an average maximum temperature of 39.3 degrees.
The long-term average low temperature for December in Jackson is 7 degrees. The average low this past December was 21.9 degrees, or about 15 degrees warmer than normal. You may be surprised to know, that wasn’t even close to the record for the warmest average minimum temperature for the month of December. In 1917 the average low temperature for December was 24.9 degrees.
Perhaps the best gauge of overall warmth, or cold, for a month is the monthly mean temperature, or the average of both the average high and average low temperatures. December 2025’s mean temperature was 30.3 degrees, or 12 degrees warmer than the long-term average mean temperature in December of 18 degrees. But December 2025 did not break the record for the warmest December in Jackson.
Using that metric of mean temperature, the warmest December ever recorded in Jackson was 108 years ago, back in 1917, with a monthly mean temperature of 31.1 degrees.
Cumulative Warm Days and Nights
There were also several days in December 2025 that had high temperatures in the 40’s in town, a total of 16 days. That also fell short of a record, which is still held by December 1933, with a total of 18 days of 40 degrees or warmer.
Unusually warm overnight low temperatures were also present this past December, with a total of 7 days in town with a temperature of 32 degrees or warmer. Not as bad as December of 1917, which had a total of 12 days at or above freezing for overnight lows.
The warmest day of the month was on December 11th, 2025, with a high of 51 degrees. That’s 10 degrees shy of the all-time warmest December temperature of 61 degrees, from December 12th, 1921. However, the low temperature on the morning of December 11th, 2025 was 42 degrees, breaking the old record of 39 degrees on that date, from 2004.
The Ugly: Rain-Snow-Rain
The precipitation this past December came in waves of snow, followed by rain, followed by more snow, which was again washed away by more rain. Making for ugly conditions on the roads and causing a brown Christmas in town, for the first time in 30 years. Not since 1995 had we experienced no snow on the ground in Jackson on Christmas Day.
Total precipitation in the Town of Jackson in December 2025 was 3.58 inches, more than double the average in December of 1.52 inches, but well shy of any records. The wettest December in Jackson was in 1964, with 5.95 inches of precipitation. Two other Decembers broke the 5-inch mark, in 1955 and 1996.
Total snowfall in town in December 2025 was 14.6 inches, compared to an average snowfall in December of 17 inches. Settled snow depths though went from 5 inches on the ground on December 7th, 2025, to no snow on the ground from December 10th to 18th. Then back up to 5 inches on December 19th, and back to zero by December 22nd through the 26th. That marked the first Brown Christmas the Town of Jackson had since 1995, 30 years ago.
December snowfall returned and made a late inning run with 5 inches of snow on the ground by New Year’s Eve. It was a wild “snowler-coaster” ride in the valley this December.
The Good: Mountain Snow
The best thing about December 2025’s weather was the abundance of snow in the mountains. It was truly a tale of two different Decembers, depending on your altitude.
The Rendezvous Bowl weather station at the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, at around the 9,600-foot elevation, recorded 104 inches of snowfall in December 2025. That’s 127 percent of the average snowfall at that site in December of 82 inches. This December’s snowfall on the upper mountains lies in-between the least amount of December snowfall, 16 inches in 1986, and the most snowfall in December, 225 inches in 1996.
The settled snow depth in Rendezvous Bowl at the end of December 2025 stood at 71 inches, which is the deepest snowpack measured there on December 31st since 2016, when it was at 86 inches. The average snow depth there on December 31st is 58 inches. Last season, it was at 59 inches. The shallowest snow depth recorded at Rendezvous Bowl on December 31st was 16 inches in 1976. The deepest was in 1996, with 114 inches.
So, the good news about December 2025 is that the snowpack in the mountains was plenty fat. Now, if we can just get the weather pattern to change a little, to keep it all snow to the valley floor, we’d really be looking good into the New Year.
Jim is the chief meteorologist at mountainweather.com and has been forecasting the weather in Jackson Hole and the Teton Range for almost 35 years.