Getting Ready for Summer

 

Great Falls, Maryland

May 2022 finished as a warmer and wetter than average month in the Nation’s Capital.  With 6.36” of rain officially at Reagan National Airport, last month finished as D.C.’s 14^th wettest May since weather records began in 1871.  Rain occurred on 18 days last month and that contributed to a gloomy feel to the weather with below average temperatures for much of May.  However, May 2022 finished on a warm note yesterday with a high of 96° at National Airport.  That was D.C.’s hottest May temperature in 11 years since May 31, 2011 (98°). 

NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center expects June to be a warmer than average month in the Nation’s Capital with near average rainfall.  Meteorological summer is comprised of the three-month period of June, July and August.  Daily average high/low temperatures in Washington, D.C. rise from 81°/63° on June 1 to 89°/71° on June 30.  D.C.’s hottest June temperature on record is 104° and occurred on June 29, 2012.  Meanwhile, D.C.’s coolest June temperature is 43° and occurred on June 2, 1897.

While 10 of the last 20 June’s have been warmer than average in Washington, D.C. since 2002, there have been two distinct trends.  Seven of the 10 June’s between 2002 and 2011 were cooler than average in the Nation’s Capital, while seven of the 10 since then were warmer than average.  The earliest in the season it’s been 100° in the Nation’s Capital is June 5 when it was 100° in 1925. 

According to NOAA, June is the second wettest month of the year in the Nation’s Capital with an average of 4.20”.  Three of D.C.’s wettest June’s on record have occurred in the last 16 years.  That includes D.C.’s rainiest June in 2006 and second rainiest June in 2015.  By comparison, June 2017 was D.C.’s third driest with only 1.13”.

Residents of the D.C. Metro Area have also seen their fair share of severe thunderstorms in June.  For example, Maryland’s second strongest tornado on record occurred on June 2, 1998 when an F4 tornado touched down in Frostburg.  The D.C. Area’s infamous “derecho” occurred nearly 10 years ago on June 29, 2012, and caused widespread wind damage and power outages.  More recently, multiple severe hail reports (1”/+ in diameter) occurred on June 2, 2019.  My colleagues and I on the WUSA9 Weather Team are watching the potential for more severe weather in the D.C. Metro Area tomorrow.