Late February Swings

Although late February can still be quite cold, large temperature swings are more common as March draws closer.  DC residents have seen a lot of weather variability between mid to late February and early March.  Average daily high/low temperatures rise to 51°/34° by this Friday, February 29.  

The 2019-2020 winter season has been a warm and relatively snow-free one in the Nation’s Capital.  This winter will finish among DC’s Top 10 Warmest and likely as DC’s third least snowy winter on record.  However, it’s worth highlighting some of late February’s dramatic weather of the last few years.  February 2015, for example, was DC’s coldest since 1979 with a monthly average temperature of 30.3° -- more than 8° below normal.  That month was a particularly frigid one, with 21 of 28 days colder than average.  With 9.8” of snow, it was also DC’s last February to have above average snowfall, with half coming during the final week of the month.

February 2016 had a frigid stretch of weather with highs below freezing on five consecutive days from February 11 – 15.  But, that month finished nearly 10° warmer than the previous February with an average temperature of 39.9°.  That’s in contrast to February 2017, which was DC’s warmest on record with an average monthly temperature of 47.7°, nearly 9° above average.  February 2017 had no measurable snowfall.

Although not as extreme as the previous year, February 2018 was also especially warm and finished as DC’s third warmest on record.  The record high of 82° on February 21, 2018 was DC’s earliest 80° temperature.  February 2018 was also a rainy month with a total of 4.79”, DC’s wettest February since 2003.  The most significant thing about February 2019 – aside from being warmer than average – is that it was the last time DC had an inch of more of snow.  Specifically, 2.6” fell on February 20, 2019 with 2.6”.  

Although no snowfall is expected the rest of this week, additional rainfall occurred today with more expected tomorrow.  That will give February 2020 a total of 13 days with measurable rainfall, helping make it DC’s fourth wetter than average February of the last five years.  February 2020 will become the third February since 2000 to have only a trace of snow during the entire month (a “trace” is too little to measure).  This illustrates that as the month of February wears on, DC’s weather can vary rather significantly from one year to the next.