DC’s unofficial start to summer

 

A warm June day in the nation's capital

Last month finished as DC’s first cooler and wetter than average May since 2017. It was DC’s ninth wettest May with 7.73” of rain. Washingtonians didn’t see any 90-degree May heat for the second time in three years.

NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center expects June to feature near average temperatures in the nation’s capital with a slight chance for above average rainfall. Meteorological summer is comprised of the three-month period of June, July and August.  

Daily average high/low temperatures in Washington, D.C. rise from 81°/63° on June 1 to 89°/71° on June 30. D.C.’s hottest June temperature on record is 104° and occurred on June 29, 2012. Meanwhile, DC’s coolest June temperature is 43° and occurred on June 2, 1897. The earliest in the season it’s been 100° in the nation’s capital was on June 5, 1925. 

June is DC’s second wettest month of the year with an average rainfall total of 4.20”, according to NOAA. Three of DC’s wettest June’s on record have occurred since 2006. DC's rainiest June was in 2006 and second rainiest June in 2015. By comparison, June 2017 was DC’s third driest with only 1.13”.

Residents of the National Capital Region have endured lots of severe weather in June. For example, Maryland’s second strongest tornado occurred on June 2, 1998, when an F4 tornado touched down in Frostburg. DC’s infamous “derecho” occurred on June 29, 2012, and caused widespread wind damage and power outages across the Mid-Atlantic Region. More recently, multiple EF-0 and EF-1 tornadoes struck the DMV (DC, Maryland and Virginia) on June 5, 2024.

No 90-degree heat has occurred in the nation’s capital since August 29, 2024 (93°). However, following almost two weeks with below average temperatures, Washingtonians will see a moderating trend with summer-like warmth during the first week of June.