Friday’s high temperature of 78° was DC’s warmest temperature since it was 83° on October 11, 2018. Although it was significantly warmer than DC’s average high temperature on March 15 of 56°, Washingtonians fell short of breaking yesterday’s record high of 82°.
Once the cold front passed through
last night, there was a precipitous drop in both temperature and relative
humidity. For example, at National
Airport the winds were SW at 13 MPH with a temperature and dewpoint temperature
of 70° and 59°, respectively, at 9:00 PM last night. However, by 10:00 PM the winds were NW at 18
and gusting to 26 MPH. Consequently, the
dewpoint temperature had dropped to 36° and the temperature began to fall. The significant drop in the dewpoint led to a
steep drop in relative humidity from 68% to 29% between 9:00 PM and 10:00 PM
last night.
Washingtonians have averaged four
days in March with high temperatures in the 70s since 1993. The highs of 75° and 78° on March 14-15 were the
first case of consecutive high temperatures in the 70s since November 1-2,
2018. Since the cold front passed
through the Nation’s Capital last night, temperatures fell from 70° at 10:00 PM
to 49° by 5:00 AM. Yesterday’s low
temperature of 57° at National Airport didn’t occur until 11:59 PM. That prevented DC residents from setting a
new record high-low temperature for March 15.
The existing record for March 15 remains 60° from 1990.
A “high-low” or “max-min” temperature
means the low temperature on a particular day was unusually warm. There are parallels between March 15, 2019
and March 15, 2014. The high temperature
in the Nation’s Capital on March 15, 2014 was 70°. However, DC residents had a frigid St.
Patrick’s Day with a high temperature of only 32° on March 17, 2014. That coincided with 7.2” of snowfall from
March 16-17. By comparison, high temperatures
this weekend will remain in the 50s.
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