DC’s final month of winter?

 

A sunny February day in DC

January 2024 was a warmer and wetter than average month in the nation’s capital.  Despite the coldest and snowiest stretch of weather in several years, the first half and final week of January were sufficiently warm to allow the month to finish 2.3° warmer than average.  Last month was also quite rainy with three days of an inch or more of rain that helped make it DC’s wettest January (5.88") since 1979, and seventh wettest since NOAA weather records began in 1871.

February is the third and final month of “meteorological” winter. It’s also D.C.’s snowiest month of the year on average with 5.0”, according to the National Weather Service.  Six of D.C.’s 10 largest snow events have occurred in February with the most recent being “Snowmageddon” in February 2010.  However, Washington, D.C. hasn’t had a snowier than average February since 2015. 

February is also the driest month of the year in Washington, D.C. with a monthly rainfall average of only 2.62”.  However, four of the last six February’s have been wetter than average in the nation’s capital.  In a reversal from a year ago when February got underway with a growing rainfall deficit, there is currently a rainfall surplus of 7.39" since late-November.  Daily rainfall of an inch or more has occurred in the nation's capital seven times since November 21, including two days with more than 2" of rain.

Average daily high/low temperatures range from 46°/30° on February 1 to 52°/34° on February 28.  Six of the last seven February’s were warmer than average in the nation’s capital.  That includes D.C.’s warmest and third warmest February's in 2017 and 2023.  In a rare set of circumstances, February was warmer than March in the nation’s capital in both 2017 and 2018. D.C.’s coldest February temperature occurred on February 11, 1889 (-15°).  By comparison, D.C.’s warmest February temperature overall was 84° (February 25, 1930).

NOAA's Climate Prediction Center expects this February to feature near average temperatures and precipitation in the nation's capital.  That's despite the warm and dry start to February my colleagues and I on the WUSA9 Weather Team are expecting.  For those wanting more accumulating snowfall, it's important to remember, the right ingredients need to come together only once to produce a significant winter storm.  Meanwhile, average daily temperatures and the amount of daylight both increase as the month of February wears on.