“White Thanksgiving” in the Nation’s Capital?

Thanksgiving weather often varies widely from one year to the next in the Nation’s Capital.  Thanksgiving falls on November 23 this year and the average high/low temperatures in Washington, D.C. are 55°/39°.

DC’s warmest Thanksgiving on record was on November 22, 2007 (77°).  But that’s the average high temperature in Washington, D.C. on September 22.  By comparison, DC’s coldest Thanksgiving Day high temperature came in 1930 when the high temperature was only 30° on November 27.  Weather records in Washington, D.C. date back to 1871.  However, records have been kept at National Airport since it opened in 1941. 

Prior to that, weather measurements were made downtown.  The coldest Thanksgiving on record since National Airport opened occurred on November 23, 1989 and November 28, 1996, when the high temperature was only 35°.  The coldest low temperature at National Airport on Thanksgiving Day was 25° in 2005, while it was 19° on Thanksgiving Day in 1903. 

Areas north and west of downtown DC are often colder, since they are away from the moderating influences of the downtown corridor and the Potomac River.  Snow on Christmas is a rarity in the Nation’s Capital and snow on Thanksgiving is rarer still.  Accumulating snow has only occurred six times on Thanksgiving in Washington, D.C., with the most recent being in 1989.  A total of 1.9” of snow was measured at National Airport on November 23, 1989, following the 1.6” that fell the day before. 

November and December 1989 were so cold in the DC Metro Area that the snow that fell on Thanksgiving Day remained on the ground on Christmas.  More recently, a trace of snow occurred in Washington, D.C. on Thanksgiving in 2010.  By comparison, the last time at least 0.5” of rain occurred in the Nation’s Capital on Thanksgiving was on November 28, 1985 (0.67”).  Sunny, but chilly temperatures are on tap tomorrow for Thanksgiving with highs near 50° in the Nation’s Capital.