2018 Gets Underway Amid Record Cold

Below Average Temperatures Continue into 2018 across Eastern U.S.  (Source: NOAA)

The DC Metro Area and much of the central and northern United States are experiencing a record-setting cold wave.  The Nation’s Capital has been above freezing only one of the last four days.  To add to that, temperatures are expected to climb above freezing only once the rest of the week.  This morning’s unofficial low temperature in Washington, D.C. was 13° and the high temperature is expected to remain in the mid-20s.  By comparison, DC’s high and low temperatures on January 1, 2017 were 56°/37°.

The high of 23° at National Airport on December 31 tied for the fourth coldest New Year’s Eve on record.  It was also DC’s coldest December high temperature since December 24, 1989 (also 23°).  Temperatures on three of the final five days of 2017 remained below freezing.  The cold weather has been equally impressive at Dulles Airport, which set a new record low-high temperature of 23° on December 28.  Dulles also came within a degree of tying its 1962 record of 20° for coldest New Year’s Eve.

Monthly temperatures in Washington, D.C. were 1.9° warmer than average (39.7°) as recently as December 26.  However, frigid weather over the final days of 2017 caused December 2017 to finish 0.5° colder than average.  A net swing in average monthly temperatures of more than 2° in less than a week is impressive.  2017 saw DC’s first colder than average December since 2010 (34.6°) and coldest month, overall, since January 2016 (34.9°).

NOAA expects these frigid conditions to continue for the first half of January across much of the central and eastern United States.  Additional record low and record high-low temperatures are possible across the DC Metro Area this week.  Temperatures are only expected to reach the freezing mark once through Saturday, January 6. 

If the 10-day stretch from December 27 through January 6 continues as expected (with temperatures at or below freezing on seven days), than it could rival some historic cold streaks in the Nation’s Capital.  The last time Washingtonians experienced a comparable 10-day streak of frigid weather was in January 2004, according to the National Weather Service.  From January 19 through January 28, 2004, high temperatures remained below freezing on nine days. 

The last time DC residents had a daily high temperature of less than 20° was on January 22, 2014 (19°).  The last time temperatures fell to single digits at National Airport (DC’s official weather reporting site) was on February 20, 2015 (5°).  Although last January brought DC residents three consecutive frigid days with high temperatures in the 20s, the current stretch of frigid weather is considerably longer.

Record Low-High Temperatures

January 1:

Washington, D.C., National Airport (DCA):  17° (1918)
Dulles International Airport, Sterling, VA (IAD): 26° (1977)
Baltimore, MD (BWI Airport): 17° (1918)

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Record Low / Record High-Low Temperatures

January 2:

DCA: -1° (1899) / 15° (1918)
IAD: -7° (1968) / 24° (1968)
BWI: 0° (1968) / 13° (1918) 

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January 3

DCA:  -3° (1877) / 10° (1879)
IAD: 8° (1979)^ / 23° (1979)
BWI: 0° (1879) / 13° (1879)

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January 4:

DCA: -3° (1877) / 16° (1879)
IAD: 5° (1979) / 20° (1981)
BWI: 4° (1918) / 21° (1981)^

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January 5:

DCA: -3° (1877) / 18° (1896)
IAD: 5° (1970) / 21° (1968)
BWI: 1° (1877) / 18° (1896)

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January 6:

DCA: 2° (1884) / 14° (1884)
IAD: 4° (1999)^ / 20° (1988)
BWI: 5° (1904) / 16° (1912)

*=monthly record
^=also occurred in previous years