The Unofficial Start to Summer

 

A warm June morning, Avenel Park, Potomac, MD

May 2023 finished as the ninth driest on record in the nation’s capital with only 1.34” of rain.  That made it DC’s driest since 1999.  It was also a cooler than average month with an average temperature (combining daily high/low temperatures) that was 2.2° cooler than average.  It’s ironic that DC was both cooler and much drier than average since being cooler than average in May is often a function of a lot of cloudy and rainy weather.

NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center expects June to feature near average temperatures 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, DC’s coolest June temperature is 43° and occurred on June 2, 1897.

Six of the 10 June’s between 2003 and 2012 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 was on June 5, 1925. 

According to NOAA, June is DC’s second wettest month of the year with an average rainfall of 4.20”.  Three of DC’s wettest June’s on record occurred in the last 17 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 endured severe thunderstorms in June.  For example, Maryland’s second strongest tornado occurred on June 2, 1998 when an F4 tornado touched down in Frostburg.  The D.C. Area’s infamous “derecho” occurred nearly 11 years ago on June 29, 2012, and caused widespread wind damage and power outages.  More recently, multiple of severe hail (1”/+ in diameter) were reported on June 2, 2019.  

Aside from today potentially being the first 90° day of the year in the nation’s capital, below average temperatures are expected over the next one to two weeks.  No widespread severe weather is expected either over the next week.