A Warm or a White Thanksgiving?

Source: National Park Service

Longtime Washingtonians know that the weather in November has many similarities to March’s weather.  Both months experience high variations in temperature and types of precipitation.  November is the first of five consecutive months that Washington, D.C. averages measurable snowfall (0.5”), while March is the fifth (1.5”).

Some may wonder why Thanksgiving falls on a different date every year.  Federal law proclaimed it a national holiday to be celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November.  High temperatures today are going to be near the seasonal average of 55 degrees in the Nation’s Capital, while last Thanksgiving was a tad warmer with a high temperature of 64 degrees.

There have been some large swings in the Thanksgiving weather for the DC Metro Region over just the last 20 years.  The warmest Thanksgiving on record in the Nation’s Capital occurred on November 22, 2007, with a record high temperature of 77 degrees at both National and Dulles Airports.  Meanwhile, the coldest Thanksgiving DC residents endured in recent times occurred on November 28, 1996, when the high/low temperatures were 35/26 degrees.  More recently, on November 23, 2000, Thanksgiving was also quite cold with temperatures of only 38/27 degrees at National Airport.  You have to go back a little further in history to find the snowiest Thanksgiving on record in the Nation’s Capital.  That occurred on November 23, 1989, when 1.6” of snow fell at National Airport.

There have been similar fluctuations in temperature and precipitation types on St. Patrick’s Day.  Although the record high for March 17 in Washington, D.C. is 88 degrees (1945), there have been two significantly warmer than average St. Patrick’s Days in the last 20 years.  In 1999, the high temperature in the Nation’s Capital reached 76 degrees and it was 75 degrees in 2012.  By comparison, D.C.’s snowiest St. Patrick’s Day on record occurred in 2014 when 3.9” of snow fell at National Airport.  That snowstorm spanned two days (March 16-17, 2014) and brought 7.2”, making it the tenth largest March snowstorm on record in Washington, D.C.  The average high and low temperatures in the Nation’s Capital on St. Patrick’s Day are 56/38 degrees.

Fortunately, no extreme temperatures are expected the rest of the month in the Mid-Atlantic Region.  Also, no appreciable precipitation is expected over the coming days.  While people with outdoor activities planned will be pleased, the moderate drought conditions that now exist across most of the DC Metro Region will only continue.