2023 Gets Underway

 

 

The Nation’s Capital experienced record December cold for the first time since 1989 when the high temperature on Christmas Eve reached only 22°.  Last month was D.C.’s first wetter than average month since July with 3.86” of rain officially at National Airport.  December is also the first month of meteorological winter and has segued into January. 

January is the coldest month of the year in the Nation’s Capital with an average monthly temperature (combining daily high/low temperatures) of 37.5°.  That’s an increase over the previous average of 35.7°.  During the 2020-2021 winter season, NOAA updated its temperature and precipitation averages to reflect the 30-year period of 1991-2020.  Since the 2010s were a much warmer decade than the 1980s, it’s not surprising that January’s average temperature increased by 1.8° when the 2010s replaced the 1980s that were used in NOAA’s previous data set (1981-2010).

D.C.’s coldest time of the year based on average temperature occurs in mid-January.  The daily average high/low temperatures in the Nation’s Capital are 44°/30° for a six-day stretch from January 14 – January 19.  Six of the last 10 January’s have been cooler than average in Washington, D.C.  January 2022 was D.C.’s coldest since 2014.  The warmest January temperature on record was 79° on January 26, 1950.  By comparison, D.C.’s coldest January temperature was -14° on January 1, 1881. 

Washington, D.C. had below average precipitation in seven of the last 10 January’s.  That includes D.C.’s fourth driest January on record in 2018 (0.94”).  Not surprisingly, NOAA’s January rainfall average for Washington, D.C. dropped from 2.86” to 2.81” in the updated climate data set.  Six of the last 10 January’s also saw below average snowfall.  That’s led D.C.’s January snowfall average to fall from 5.6” to 4.9”.  However, January 2022 had 12.3” of snowfall and was D.C.’s snowiest month since January 2016.

Since D.C. Area residents haven’t had much snow in recent winters, it’s important to remember January doesn’t have to be colder than average to be snowier than average.  January 2005, for example, was a snowier than average month in the Nation’s Capital with 6.4” of snow, but it also finished 0.1° warmer than average.  It’s also significant to note that following D.C.’s snowier than average January last year, the Nation’s Capital hasn’t had consecutive snowier than average January’s since 2009-2010.

NOAA expects this month to be warmer than average with near average precipitation.  However, the right ingredients need to come together only once to produce an epic winter storm as what happened in January 2016 with D.C.’s fourth largest snow event on record.