DC’s Snowiest Month?

 

Photo Credit: Kristen Leitch, Broomes Island, Maryland

Longtime Washingtonians have seen their fair share of significant February winter storms.  Some may also know that six of DC’s 10 largest winter storms occurred during the month of February.  Most recently was “Snowmageddon” in February 2010 that remains tied for DC’s fourth largest snow event on record with 17.8” officially at National Airport.

February is DC’s snowiest month of the year with an average of 5.7” according to NOAA, slightly ahead of January’s average of 5.6”.  Fourteen of the last 20 February’s have had below average snowfall in the Nation’s Capital.  DC’s most recent snowier than average February occurred in 2015. 

February 2015 was also memorable for how cold it was in the Nation’s Capital.  With a monthly average temperature of 30.3°, combining daily high and low temperatures, it finished 8.7° below average.  It was DC’s coldest February since 1979.  DC residents shivered through a total of eight days that month with high temperatures at or below freezing.  DC residents even had a frigid low temperature of 5° on February 20, 2015, that was a new record for the date.  It was also DC’s first record low during the month of February since 1970. 

While there have been a number of significant winter weather milestones in the DC Metro Area during February, there has been a disproportionate amount of warmer than average weather in recent decades.  For example, February 2017 was DC’s warmest February on record and had 11 days with highs of at least 60° - including six days in the 70s.  Washingtonians had a record high temperature of 82° on February 21, 2018.  That was not only a record for the date, but also set a new record for DC’s earliest 80° day of the year.  

Last February finished with 15 days of high temperatures of at least 55°.  That’s unusual since DC’s warmest average high temperature during February is 51° on February 28.  Temperatures have been within half a degree of average so far this February.

NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center expects colder than average conditions to continue for the next one to two weeks.  There will be several chances for precipitation in that time.  Winter weather enthusiasts hoping for snow should find that pattern encouraging as the right ingredients need to come together only once to produce a significant winter storm.  The immediate DC Metro Area has had several near misses for significant snowfall so far this winter.  However, it’s important to remember that appreciable snowfall can occur well into March.  In fact, March has been DC’s snowiest month of the year four times over the last decade.