Retail WeatherIQ™ (Jan. 5-11, 2025 / NRF Retail Week 49)

Weather volatility is the most impactful climate-related risk consumer businesses face and it is constantly changing to create new opportunities and challenges.  WeatherIQ™ is a collaboration between Planalytics and the National Retail Federation (NRF) that provides weekly weather impact outlooks for select product categories or retail segments compared with the prior year. 

Last Year (week-ending 1/13/24), the U.S. was coldest since 2018, wettest in the past 60+ years, and snowiest since 2011. Below are some favorable and unfavorable weather-driven demand impacts for the week. NRF members can view additional metro-level insights along with year-over-year weather variance maps.

Weather summary for the week:

• Warming from the West, Colder East. Very cold conditions will continue across the East while the West runs warmer than LY. Warmer comps will spread across the country late week into the weekend.
• Snow in the East, Rain for the South Central. The winter storm will move off the East coast by Tuesday morning. Rain will then develop from New Mexico to the Delta region. Snow and ice are possible from North Texas to the Appalachians from Thursday to Saturday.