March 2020 finished as DC’s fifth warmest on record
with more than an inch below normal rainfall.
The warm winter and March allowed for allergy season to begin unusually
early in the DC Metro Area. The above
average temperatures continued on eight of the first nine days of April. However, since April 10 the weather pendulum
has swung 180° in the other direction.
From April 10 through April 28, all but three days were cooler than
average in the Nation’s Capital.
Washingtonians are in for a treat today as high temperatures reach the 70s. That will put an end to the 15-day stretch of below average high temperatures. Twelve of those 15 days also saw measurable rainfall in the Nation’s Capital. Nevertheless, the chill and frequent rain over the last 2+ weeks has guaranteed April 2020 will finish as a cooler than average month. Perhaps area residents and tourists alike are paying for the warmer and drier than average weather so many enjoyed in the DC Metro Area last month.
A cooler and wetter than average April isn’t as common as some may think. There have been only four such April’s in Washington, D.C. during the last 30 years: in 2018, 2007, 2000 and 1993. Looking at 2018, the circumstances were somewhat different than they were this spring. That’s because March 2018 was a cold and dry month in the Nation’s Capital. It finished 3.2° cooler than average and had a rainfall deficit of 1.56”. Despite less rain than average, March 2018 was DC’s snowiest month of the 2017-2018 winter with 4.5”. By comparison, last month was the first March no snow occurred in the Nation’s Capital since 2008.
Washingtonians are in for a treat today as high temperatures reach the 70s. That will put an end to the 15-day stretch of below average high temperatures. Twelve of those 15 days also saw measurable rainfall in the Nation’s Capital. Nevertheless, the chill and frequent rain over the last 2+ weeks has guaranteed April 2020 will finish as a cooler than average month. Perhaps area residents and tourists alike are paying for the warmer and drier than average weather so many enjoyed in the DC Metro Area last month.
A cooler and wetter than average April isn’t as common as some may think. There have been only four such April’s in Washington, D.C. during the last 30 years: in 2018, 2007, 2000 and 1993. Looking at 2018, the circumstances were somewhat different than they were this spring. That’s because March 2018 was a cold and dry month in the Nation’s Capital. It finished 3.2° cooler than average and had a rainfall deficit of 1.56”. Despite less rain than average, March 2018 was DC’s snowiest month of the 2017-2018 winter with 4.5”. By comparison, last month was the first March no snow occurred in the Nation’s Capital since 2008.
May 2018 temperatures rebounded and finished 5° warmer
than average. NOAA expects May 2020 to also
finish warmer than average in the DC Metro Area. However, NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center
expects cooler and wetter than average conditions to continue through the first
two weeks of next month. There will be
some nice days mixed in, too, such as today that will feature some welcome sunshine
and more seasonal late-April temperatures in the low to mid 70s.
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