Storms brought power outages and catastrophic flooding. An unusually dry and hot autumn led to historic wildfires. But it wasn’t all bad news: blue skies delivered a crystal-clear total eclipse, and solar flares gave us the northern lights.
In climate and environment news, it was a year of heartbreak and exhilaration, progress and setbacks, thrilling discoveries and daring rescues. Here’s a look back as we head into 2025.
Mild, erratic, extreme
From a lackluster winter to a hot summer, the weather in 2024 gave some insight into how climate change is affecting New England.
The year began with a power outage in Vermont and flooding in Maine. It was the warmest winter on record for the U.S. But some New England winter traditions, like ice harvesting, still happened.
We had too much winter rain and not enough in the fall. During September and October, Connecticut experienced almost five times more brushfires than normal. Massachusetts firefighters faced more than 500 fires, much later in the season than usual.
The warmer weather is having a complex impact on New England lakes, incubating invasive plants and degrading water quality.
Flooding, again
In July, just as Vermont was marking the anniversary of the previous year’s widespread, destructive flooding, heavy rains came again.
The remnants of Hurricane Beryl dropped as much as 6 inches of rain in parts of Vermont. A few weeks later, severe flash flooding tore through communities in the northern part of the state. Vermont Gov. Phil Scott urged weary Vermonters to stick together and not give up.
Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont had a similar message for residents of southwestern Connecticut later in the summer, when severe flooding hit there, with at least two people killed.
In New Hampshire’s North Country, residents affected by flooding in December 2023 continued in their long recovery and reflected on what was lost.
In Maine, where back-to-back storms hit in January, officials met to plan for how the state can be prepared for more of this extreme weather in the future.
Adapting and seeking solutions
State governments in New England continued in their efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
In Vermont, legislators overrode the governor’s veto to pass a major clean energy bill and passed a bill to try to make big oil pay for climate damages.
Maine announced a four-year plan to achieve carbon neutrality by 2045.
Massachusetts passed a new clean energy package, including a plan to give marginalized communities more of a say in how energy projects affect them.
As New Hampshire officials drafted that state’s climate change plan, it was on track to remain an outlier in New England, focusing on voluntary measures and market-based solutions.
Meanwhile, New Englanders pursued their own creative approaches.
Farmers experimented with things like frost fans to protect from unseasonably cold nights. Homeowners and renters looked for ways to reduce their carbon emissions and protect their homes from flooding, in some cases, by letting the water in.
On Cape Cod, people enthusiastic about pee-cycling encouraged their neighbors to divert their urine to protect the local water supply. Researchers in Vermont looked into whether recycled pee can work as a large-scale, sustainable fertilizer.
A tumultuous year for offshore wind
Offshore wind could bring massive amounts of renewable energy to New England.
On Jan. 2, 2024, the region’s first large offshore wind farm, Vineyard Wind, sent electricity to the grid for the first time from a single turbine. In February, five turbines were up and running.
With 62 turbines planned, Vineyard Wind is set to produce enough renewable electricity for about 400,000 homes.
But there have been challenges.
In July, a blade broke off a Vineyard Wind turbine and sent debris washing up on Nantucket beaches at the height of summer tourism season. The incident energized offshore wind opponents.
In response, the federal Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement issued a suspension order. Construction resumed, but when a group of our journalists chartered a boat to see the turbines in September, all of the turbines were still.
Later in the fall, efforts to expand offshore wind in New England through state-led efforts and federal lease sales attracted less interest than anticipated, potentially due to political uncertainty about the industry.
Looking up
Heading into 2024, we were certain about one thing: a total solar eclipse would pass over northern New England on April 8.
But no one knew how many would travel to the region to see it, how much those crowds could disrupt communication or emergency services in rural areas, or whether the clouds would even part.
As it happened, New Englanders got some of the best views of the eclipse in the country. People who saw it in Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine called it a life-changing experience.
And there was more to come. Later in the year, solar storms caused the Northern Lights to be visible in areas where it’s not normally seen, including New England. People peered through their phones and captured striking pink and green images from Connecticut to Maine.
Discoveries and rescues
Some of the saddest, strangest and most wonderful stories of the year in New England came from the natural world.
In February, a young female right whale washed up on a Martha’s Vineyard beach. The tragedy gave scientists a rare opportunity to do a necropsy and learn more about how one of the world’s last remaining North Atlantic right whales had died.
Right whales were again in the news as experts tried to understand how they could be impacted by offshore wind development, and as we learned their overall population numbers had ticked up slightly.
Groups that help animals in trouble were busy. A record number of dolphins got stranded on the Cape. Hundreds of hypothermic turtles were treated at a New England Aquarium animal hospital. Ducks that got caught in an oil spill were rescued in the Boston area. And endangered piping plovers got protection while they nested.
Mosquitoes dominated the news in August after a New Hampshire resident died from EEE virus.
In other insect news that month, some Boston residents encountered swarms of flying ants — turns out those bugs were just searching for mates.
The year saw major efforts in Maine to help save eelgrass, an important plant in the coastal ecosystem that also sequesters a large amount of carbon. In western Massachusetts, researchers planted mountain magnolia trees from Appalachia to try to save them from extinction. In Connecticut, they counted acorns to try to understand what’s ailing oaks. In Vermont, wildlife officials rediscovered false mermaid-weed, a spring ephemeral plant that hadn’t been seen in the state for more than 100 years.
And we sought out birds — loons, bald eagles and flocks of crows — to better understand them, but also just to enjoy them.
Art and reflection
As we learned in our special series about life on the Connecticut River, the landscape of New England affects us in myriad ways.
We reflected with art, music and large troll sculptures. In New Bedford, an exhibit on scrimshaw included depictions of pollution engraved on ocean plastic.
Along the way, we enjoyed some ice cream. And as we found in our New England day trips project, there will always be new places to explore.
This story was shared as part of the New England News Collaborative.
