Will there be a Thanksgiving Day surprise ?

 

A dry November day in Potomac, Maryland

Some may wonder why Thanksgiving falls on a different date every year. Federal law proclaimed it a national holiday to be celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November. That means Thanksgiving 2024 will occur on November 28 when D.C.’s average high/low temperatures are 54°/38°.   

D.C.’s warmest Thanksgiving occurred on November 22, 2007 with a record high temperature of 77°. By comparison, Washingtonians had an unusually cold Thanksgiving in 2018 when the high/low was only 42°/29° on November 22. 

Longtime Washingtonians may recall that it was 35 years ago when area residents last experienced a snowy Thanksgiving. That Thanksgiving, on November 23, 1989, had a two-day snow total of 3.5”. November 1989 finished 1.6° colder than average and was followed by DC’s coldest December since 1917. In fact, 1989 remains the only time Washingtonians had both a snowy Thanksgiving and a snowy Christmas.

Accumulating November snowfall in the nation’s capital has been exceedingly rare in recent years, with only one such occurrence since 2000. Daily snowfall records were set at all three D.C. Area airports on November 15, 2018. In fact, when NOAA updated its climate averages to reflect the 30-year period of 1991-2020, replacing the 1981-2010 data set, D.C.’s November snowfall average dropped from 0.5” to 0.1”.

This month got off to a very warm start in the nation’s capital with high temperatures in the 80s on three days for the first time since 1975. While no more record heat is expected, no unusually cold weather is expected either over the rest of November. This fall’s dry weather has also continued into this month with November poised to finish with below average rainfall. That will make this November the second in three years to be both warmer and drier than average in the nation’s capital.

Washington, D.C.’s Five Coldest Thanksgiving’s by High Temperature (Source: NOAA)

1.  30°: November 27, 1930
2.  33°: November 28, 1901
     33°: November 26, 1903
3.  35°: November 23, 1989
     35°: November 28, 1996

 

Washington, D.C.’s Five Warmest Thanksgiving’s by High Temperature (Source: NOAA)

1.  77°: November 22, 2007
2.  75°: November 22, 1979
     75°: November 20, 1941
3.  75°: November 30, 1933
     73°: November 24, 1927