DC’s surprising February weather

 

A mild late-February day out at Great Falls (Maryland).

Despite the quiet weather in the nation’s capital on the final day of February, this month has featured no shortage of memorable weather. Not only will it finish as a snowier than average month, but it’s also featured unusually cold weather combined with very windy days. 

Although DC didn’t set any temperature or precipitation records, some significant February weather benchmarks occurred. For example, a total of 6.4” of snow fell at National Airport on February 11-12. That was DC’s largest February snowstorm since 7.0” occurred on February 12-13, 2014. DC’s monthly snowfall total of 6.5” also made this the first snowier than average February since 2015. 

February is the snowiest month of the year, according to NOAA, with a monthly average of 5.0”. In addition to being a snowier than average month, February 2025 is also a wetter than average month. February finished with 2.84” of rain (0.2” above average). Rainfall includes the liquid equivalent of melted snowfall.

Temperatures remained at or below freezing on February 19 and 20 with highs of only 27° and 32°, respectively. That made for DC’s coldest two-consecutive February days in more than nine years since February 14-15, 2016, when highs at Reagan National Airport were 26° and 31°.

The majority of February was quite cold with below average temperatures on 14 of the first 23 days. However, milder than average weather the past few days helped February finish as a warmer than average month. Having a warmer and snowier than average February is an unusual occurrence and hasn’t happened in the nation’s capital since 1975. It has also been a very windy month with wind gusts of at least 40 mph on six days. Wind gusts of 64 mph and 60 mph were reported in the nation’s capital on February 16 and February 17.

This month will finish nearly a full degree warmer than average, continuing an important trend in the nation’s capital. Seven of the past eight February’s have been warmer than average.

However, the prolonged stretches of cold weather in January and February are expected to delay the peak bloom of DC’s famous cherry blossoms along the Tidal Basin. The last two winters were milder than average and peak bloom was declared by the National Park Service on March 17 last year and on March 23 in 2023. Earlier this week the National Park Service issued its first forecast for when peak bloom will occur this year and expects March 28 – 31 to be the key dates.