Record February Warmth

Spring weather enthusiasts in the Nation’s Capital are thrilled with today’s third consecutive day of high temperatures in the 60s or warmer.  Multiple record highs have been set in the Mid-Atlantic Region with these warm temperatures that are more characteristic of April.  Yesterday’s high temperature of 73 degrees at National Airport shattered the previous record high of 64.  Yesterday was also Washington, D.C.’s first occurrence of 70 degree warmth in February since 2012.

Today’s high temperature of 74 degrees broke the existing record of 68.  To add to that, today has been February’s warmest day in the Nation's Capital since it was 77 degrees on February 18, 2011.  The last time there were consecutive February days at or above 70 degrees in Washington, D.C. was on February 17-18, 2011.  There haven’t been three consecutive February days with high temperatures at or above 60 degrees in the Nation’s Capital since 2008.

Twelve of the last twenty Februarys have been warmer than average in the Nation’s Capital.  Now it may not have felt like that in recent years with three of the last four Februarys having been colder than average in Washington, D.C.  February 2014 and February 2015 also saw above average snowfall in the Nation’s Capital.  That’s in addition to two of Washington, D.C.’s top five snowiest February’s that occurred relatively recently in 2003 and 2010.

However, this month has continued this winter’s trend of being warmer than average in the Mid-Atlantic Region.  Although temperatures will be closer to average on Thursday and Friday, milder than average temperatures will return this weekend.  Area residents longing for winter-like weather shouldn’t give up hope altogether, though, as February can still be quite cold and snowy.  There was a stretch of four consecutive days where high temperatures remained in the 20s in the Nation’s Capital in February 2007.  On February 20, 2015, National Airport had its coldest February temperature on record of 5 degrees.

Meteorologists pay attention to the presence of El Nino or La Nina when issuing winter weather outlooks.  While a weak episode of La Nina was present during the warm 2011-2012 winter in the Mid-Atlantic Region, NOAA reports that the weak La Nina present earlier this winter has fully dissipated.  It’s also interesting to note that strong episodes of El Nino were present during the 1997-1998 and 2015-2016 winters.  The difference between them, though, is that very little snow occurred in the Nation’s Capital during the 1997-1998 winter while last winter included the record January snowstorm.  That shows the presence of El Nino or La Nina is just one factor that meteorologists consider during the winter months.

Only 1.4 inches of snow has occurred in Washington, D.C. so far this winter.  If this winter finishes with less than 2 inches of snow, then it would surpass the 2011-2012 winter for third smallest amount of snow.  Only 0.1 of an inch of snow occurred at National Airport during the entire 1972-1973 and 1997-1998 winter seasons.