DC’s surprising Father’s Day weather

 

NOAA's temperature outlook for late-June

Father’s Day in the United States falls on the third Sunday in June. That’s why the calendar date varies from year to year. Yesterday was the earliest Father’s Day occurred since 2014 when it also fell on June 15. DC’s average high/low temperatures on June 15 are 85°/68°.

The high/low of only 72°/65° yesterday made for DC’s chilliest Father’s Day since 2012. By comparison, DC’s hottest Father’s Day in the last 30 years was on June 18, 2007, with a high temperature of 95°. It was also DC’s rainiest Father’s Day (0.33”) since 1999.

There have been some interesting Father’s Day weather trends in the nation’s capital. For example, Father’s Day highs were in the 80s every year from 2018 – 2024. Meanwhile, DC’s longest stretch of Father’s Day highs in the 90s was from 2015 – 2017. Before yesterday, DC’s last Father’s Day with measurable rainfall was in 2021 (0.01”).

The 1990s also featured changeable and extreme Father’s Day weather.  For example, DC’s high of 99° on Father’s Day in 1994 was record-setting on June 19. By comparison, Father’s Day in 1999 was rainy (0.51”) and cool with a high of only 65°. That set a record for DC’s coolest June 20 high temperature.

Weather on any given day can vary widely from one year to the next. DC has seen June’s such as in 2015 when it finished as DC’s seventh warmest, combined with being DC’s second rainiest (11.94”). By comparison, June 2023 not only finished 2.2° cooler than average, but had only half of June’s average rainfall.

Some Washingtonians may recall that last June was exceptionally hot and finished as DC’s second warmest. Although NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center expects warmer than average weather in the nation’s capital over the final seven to 10 days of June, this month won’t finish as hot as last June did.