Thanksgiving Weather in the Nation’s Capital

 

Longtime Washingtonians know that the weather in November has many similarities to March.  Both months experience high variations in temperature and types of precipitation with occasional severe weather.  November is also the first of five consecutive months that Washington, D.C. averages measurable snowfall.

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 and it will fall on November 26 this year.  DC’s average high/low temperatures on November 26 are 54°/38°.  However, unlike recent Thanksgiving’s in the Nation’s Capital that have been chilly and dry, this Thanksgiving will be warm and wet with rain during the first half the day and highs in the 60s. 

The last time high temperatures on Thanksgiving remained below 40° in Washington, D.C. was 20 years ago on November 23, 2000 when the high temperature was only 38°.  By comparison, DC’s warmest Thanksgiving on record occurred 13 years ago on November 22, 2007, with a high temperature of 77°.

Although Washington, D.C. averages 0.5” of snow during November, accumulating snow has become a rarity during the month, with only one such occurrence in the last two decades.  However, looking at DC’s overall weather records, snow occurred six times on Thanksgiving with the most recent in 1989.  A total of 1.9” of snow was measured at National Airport on November 23, 1989.  November and December 1989 were exceptionally cold and snowy months and remain the last time Washington, D.C. had both a white Thanksgiving and Christmas.

November 2018 was a very cold and wet month in the Nation’s Capital, with 1.4” of snow on November 15.  That snow was gone by Thanksgiving Day, and it turned out to be DC’s wettest November on record.  While this November will finish as a wetter than average month, it hasn’t been wet enough to rank among DC’s 10 wettest.  November 2020 has been unusually warm though, and the warm weather on Thanksgiving will only serve to accentuate that. 

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

 

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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
     75°: November 30, 1933
3.  73°: November 24, 1927