February’s Halfway Point

 

DC's Last Significant Snowfall, January 2019

There have been some discernable weather trends in the Nation’s Capital over the last couple of weeks.  Today has become the tenth day with measurable precipitation in Washington, D.C. since January 31.  DC’s average temperature (combining daily highs and lows) is 1.2° below average, combined with 0.67” more rain than average through February 15. 

The frequency of the wet days so far this month, combined with the extensive amount of cloud cover in the DC Metro Area, have contributed to the perception of February 2021 as being a wet and cold month.  Temperatures also remained at or below freezing in the Nation’s Capital on February 12-13, for the first time in more than two years.

Fortunately, despite the last few days it hasn’t been as cold as some past February’s in the Nation’s Capital.  For example, Washingtonians saw a five-day stretch in which temperatures remained below freezing on February 11-15, 2016.  During that stretch, DC’s warmest temperature was 31° with an average daily high temperature of 29.2° and an average low temperature of 17.6°.  It was even colder at Dulles Airport where the average high/low temperatures during that five-day period were 27.4°/14.2°, respectively.  Despite that cold five days, February 2016 as a whole finished nearly a degree warmer than average in Washington, D.C.

That’s unlike February 2015, which was DC’s coldest since 1979.  February 2015 had a week-long stretch where high temperatures remained below freezing on six days.  Aside from the high of 34° on February 18, 2015, highs were below freezing between February 15 and February 21.  Some Washingtonians may also recall that on February 20, 2015, DC had a low temperature of 5° that broke a 119-year old record for the date.  It was also DC’s first record low, on any date, during the month of February since 1970. 

Going back to the mid-1990s, there were three other stretches during the month of February which Washingtonians had temperatures that remained at or below freezing on at least four consecutive days.  They occurred in 1995, 1996 and 2007.  Along with 2015, all of those February’s finished as colder and snowier than average months. 

Accumulating snowfall has occurred on six days so far this month, but has produced a combined total of only 2.1” – less than half of DC’s February snowfall average.  That helps illustrate that frequency of snowfall doesn’t necessarily correlate to intensity of snowfall. Washingtonians haven’t had a snowier than average month in more than two years since January 2019.  That was also the last time we had a snowfall of at least 5” when a total of 10.3” occurred on January 12 – 14, 2019.