Bone Chilling Cold to Close out 2017 and Welcome 2018

December is DC's Third Snowiest Month on Average

This year is ending with one of the coldest stretches of December weather in recent memory for much of the Eastern United States.  High temperatures may not reach the freezing mark again in parts of the DC Metro Area until the middle of next week.  Fortunately, for those who don’t like snow, no significant snow is currently expected in the Nation’s Capital.

Cold weather will dominate weather headlines over the next week, unlike past instances when extreme cold has been overshadowed by snow or ice storms.  Although there will continue to be prodigious amounts of lake-effect snow in the Great Lakes Region, the DC Metro Area won’t have any.  NOAA expects below average temperatures to continue in the Mid-Atlantic Region and northeastern United States through the first third of January.  Nevertheless, NOAA expects an “equal chance” that January 2018 will finish with near average temperatures in the Mid-Atlantic Region.

This month has been 1.9° warmer than average (39.7°) in Washington, D.C. through December 26.  The last colder than average December in the Nation’s Capital was in 2010 when there were   13 days with high temperatures below 40°.  By comparison, December’s coldest average high temperature in Washington, D.C. is 44° (from December 25 – December 31), according to the National Weather Service.  December 2000 was an even colder month in the Nation’s Capital with an average monthly temperature of 31.8°, which made it DC’s coldest December since 1989.

The coldest day so far this month was December 15 with a high/low temperature of 31°/25° at National Airport.  The last time Washingtonians had consecutive December days with high temperatures at or below freezing was December 13-14, 2005.  Meanwhile, the last time temperatures remained at or below freezing for four or more December days was from December 10 – 13, 1995.  DC’s coldest December day since 2000 was on December 20, 2004 (24°/11°).  None of those temperatures were record lows, however, as Washington, D.C. hasn’t had a record low temperature in December since 1989.  

By comparison, there have been a total of 21 record high temperatures in the month of December over just the last 20 years.  DC’s warmest December on record was in 2015.  That should help indicate how rare extended subfreezing temperatures are in the Nation’s Capital at any point in time – much less in late December and early January.