October 2024 finished as a warmer and drier than average month in the nation’s capital for a second consecutive year. The nation’s capital experienced its warmest Halloween since 1950 with a high temperature of 83°. Last month’s 1.48” of rain at National Airport is notable for occurring entirely on the first two days of the month.
October’s warm conclusion continued on November 1 with a high of 83° in the nation’s capital. However, cooler, more seasonal weather has arrived this weekend with highs closer to average in the 60s. Normally, D.C. residents see falling temperatures throughout the month with average daily/high low temperatures ranging from 64°/46° on November 1 to 53°/38° on November 30, according to NOAA.
D.C.’s warmest November temperature on record of 86° occurred on November 1, 1974. Meanwhile, D.C.’s coldest November temperature of 11° was on November 30, 1929. Five of the last seven November’s have been cooler than average in the nation’s capital. However, November’s outlook from NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center is for above average temperatures and near to below average rainfall in the D.C. Metro Area.
D.C. residents have seen a fair amount of dry November weather over the last 20 years. There were two notable exceptions with November 2018 that finished as D.C.’s wettest on record with 7.57”. November 2020 also finished as D.C.’s sixth wettest (6.14”). November rainfall average in Washington, D.C. is 2.91”, according to NOAA.
Longtime Washingtonians may recall the record-setting Veteran’s Day 1987 snowfall when 11.5” accumulated. That remains D.C.’s largest November snowfall on record. There has only been one instance of accumulating November snowfall in the nation’s capital over the last two decades. A daily snowfall record of 1.4” occurred at National Airport on November 15, 2018. Although the 2018-2019 winter season was the last to be snowier than average in the nation’s capital, November snowfall isn’t a reliable predictor of what the upcoming winter season will be like.
Since there’s been so little November snowfall in recent years, NOAA’s average November snowfall total for Washington, D.C. decreased from 0.5” to 0.1” in 2021 when the climate averages were updated.
