DC’s chilly start to November

 

A fine early November day in Bethesda, Maryland

October 2023 finished tied with 2016 as DC’s 13^th warmest with a monthly average temperature of 63.1°. There were seven unusually warm days in the 80s last month. With only 0.65” of rain last month at National Airport, it finished tied with 1912 as DC’s 11^th driest October and driest since 2000.

By comparison, November has gotten off to a much cooler start. Highs in Washington, D.C. will remain roughly 10° below average with highs only in the low to mid-50s over the next few days. 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. Four of the last six November’s have been cooler than average in the Nation’s Capital, so the cool start to the month could continue that trend. November’s outlook from NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center is for an equal chance of near average temperatures and 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. 

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.

Washington, D.C.’s warmest October’s (Source: NOAA)

1.  67.1° (2007)
2.  66.3° (2021)
3.  65.2° (1984)
4.  64.9° (2017)
5.  64.7° (1971)
6.  64.5° (1947)
7.  64.4° (1941)
8.  64.1° (2019)
9.  63.4° (1949)
10.  63.3° (1973)
11.  63.2° (1975, 1919)
13.  63.1° (2023, 2016)

Washington, D.C.’s driest October’s (Source: NOAA)

1.  Trace – 1963
2.  0.02” – 2000
3.  0.28” – 1930
4.  0.29” – 1874
5.  0.34” – 1896, 1892
7.  0.40” – 1920
8.  0.44” – 1924
9.  0.53” – 1882
10.  0.59” – 1998
11.  0.65” – 2023, 1912