November's Warm Start

November 2 Severe Weather Reports  (Source: NOAA)

This month got off to a milder than average start in the Nation’s Capital with highs in the 70s on each of November’s first two days.  However, a cold front subsequently brought heavy rain and severe weather to the DC Metro Area on Friday.  

Friday’s rain broke a November 2 rainfall record at Dulles Airport with 1.32”.  The 0.75” of rain that occurred at National Airport helped push 2018 higher on the list of wettest years in the Nation’s Capital.  With 53.67” of rain since January 1, Washington, D.C., has already had its seventh wettest year on record.  There are several chances of rain in the DC Metro Area over the upcoming week so the annual rainfall total will only continue to grow. 

 

The National Weather Service also confirmed that an EF-1 tornado occurred in the Dundalk area of Baltimore, Maryland on Friday night and caused two fatalities.  That made it Maryland’s first November tornado fatalities on record.  Another EF-1 tornado was also confirmed in Mt. Airy, Maryland.  Although the Mid-Atlantic Region has tornadoes on occasion in September and October, severe weather frequency decreases dramatically in November.

November’s warm start has already extended an impressive streak in Washington, D.C.  The 70s on November 1 and 2 made November 2018 the eighth consecutive November with at least two days in the 70s.  The last November without any 70° temperatures in the Nation’s Capital was in 2010.  In addition to 2010, there has been only one other November in the last 25 years that hasn’t featured any 70° warmth in the Nation’s Capital (1997).  In that time, Washingtonians have experienced an average of between three and four November days in the 70s.  DC’s warmest daily average high temperature during the month of November is 63° on November 1.

The DC Metro Area has also averaged between three and four days with low temperatures at or below freezing since 1993.  Area residents may also know that November is the first of five consecutive months that Washington, D.C. averages measurable snowfall (0.5”).  Nevertheless, measurable November snowfall is a rarity in the Nation’s Capital and hasn’t occurred since 1996. 

Having winter-like days with high temperatures less than 40° are a little more common, locally, during the month of November.  There have been a total of 12 such days in Washington, D.C. since November 1993.  The most recent occurrence was on November 11, 2017 when the high temperature was only 39° (significantly colder than the average high for the date of 60°).  
  
Temperatures in the 80s are even rarer during the month of November with only five such occurrences since 1993; or one every five years.  The most recent occurrence was on November 3, 2016 when Washington, D.C.’s high temperature was a more September-like 83°.    

Washington, D.C.’s Ten Wettest Years (Source: NOAA)

1.  61.33” (1889)

2.  60.83” (2003)

3.  60.09” (1878)

4.  58.17” (1886)

5.  57.54” (1948)

6.  54.49” (1937)

7.  52.95” (1891)

8.  52.92” (1906)

9.  52.59” (1877)

10.  52.03” (1942)