Feeling Like Spring?

 

February finished as a warmer and drier than average month in the Nation’s Capital.  Also, no measurable snowfall occurred for only the fourth time in the last 20 years.  That’s significant because February is traditionally the snowiest month of the year in Washington, D.C.  Before last month, the last time February finished warmer and drier than average was in 2017. 

March is a transitional weather month in the Nation’s Capital with large fluctuations in temperature and precipitation type.  Average daily high/low temperatures in Washington, D.C. range from 52°/35° on March 1, to 62°/43° on March 31.  According to NOAA weather records, D.C.’s hottest March temperature on record is 93° from March 23, 1907.  Meanwhile, D.C.’s coldest March temperature remains the frigid low of 4° on March 4, 1873.  Ten of the last 20 March’s have been warmer than average in the Nation’s Capital.

This is the first March using NOAA’s updated weather averages.  NOAA measures “average” weather with a running 30-year data set that’s updated every decade.  Last spring, NOAA updated its data set to reflect the period of 1991-2020 and replaced the previous data set of 1981-2010. 

Some new trends have emerged now that there is a new data set.  For example, March now averages more snowfall than it did previously.  Five of the last 10 March’s have been snowier than average in Washington, D.C.  Consequently, D.C.’s March snowfall average increased from 1.3” (1981-2010) to its current average of 2.0” (1991-2020).

March temperatures have been quite streaky in the Nation’s Capital over the last decade.  For example, D.C.’s warmest March on record occurred in 2012, but that was followed by three consecutive cooler than average March’s (2013-2015).  NOAA’s March outlook is for warmer than average temperatures in the D.C. Metro Area, with near to slightly above average precipitation.