A Taste of Spring

Although spring officially arrives in March, winter doesn’t always go away quietly.  It can include days with temperatures at or below freezing, as well as highs in the 80s.  March has been an especially dramatic weather month in the DC Metro Area over the last decade.

March 2012, for example, was DC’s warmest on record and had four days with high temperatures in the 80s.  That includes three consecutive 80° days from March 13 – 15, the longest such streak since March 29 – 31, 1998.  Consequently, DC’s famous cherry blossoms reached peak bloom more than two weeks early on March 20.  Two years later, however, Washingtonians saw a dramatic shift from a record warm March to one of DC’s coldest.  Not only was March 2014 DC’s coldest in nearly two decades, but it was also the snowiest since 1960 with a monthly total of 12.7”.

March 2014 had two days in the Nation’s Capital with high temperatures at or below freezing, which is unusual.  While March 2015 was also colder than average in DC, it wasn’t as cold as the previous March.  DC’s high temperature on March 6, 2015 was 30°, far below the daily average of 52°.  That was also the last time the Nation’s Capital remained at or below freezing on a March day.  The peak bloom of DC’s famous cherry blossoms along the Tidal Basin didn’t occur until April 10 in both 2014 and 2015, a week later than average.

The last time Washingtonians experienced 80° warmth in March was on March 1, 2017.  However, DC’s seven consecutive days with lows in the 20s during the middle of March 2017 caused significant damage to the cherry blossoms.  By comparison, NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center expects above average temperatures to continue in the DC Metro Area for the next 8 to 14 days.  

A warmer than average start to March 2020 has put DC’s streak of seven consecutive March’s with measurable snowfall in jeopardy.  That’s remarkable because March has been DC’s snowiest month of the year four times just since 2013.  The Nation’s Capital averages 1.3” of snow in March and merely seeing average snowfall this month would be more snow than occurred during the entire 2019-2020 winter to date.  This past winter season (December 1 – February 29) finished as DC’s third least snowy on record with a total of only 0.6”.