Will DC’s dry weather continue in November?

 

A November day in Great Falls, Maryland

October 2025 finished as a cooler and drier than average month in the nation’s capital. It was DC’s fifth consecutive drier than average October. Last month was on track to finish among DC’s Top 10 driest until 1.41” of rain occurred at National Airport on October 29-30. Despite that hefty two-day rainfall total, October 2025 still finished nearly 2” drier than average.

November has gotten off to a dry start in the nation’s capital with near average temperatures. Normally, residents of the DMV (DC, Maryland and Virginia) see falling temperatures throughout the month. Average daily/high low temperatures at National Airport range from 64°/46° on November 1 to 53°/38° on November 30, according to NOAA. 

DC’s warmest November temperature on record was 86° on November 1, 1974. Meanwhile, DC’s coldest November temperature of 11° was on November 30, 1929. Last November was DC’s warmest November on record. However, NOAA’s outlook for this November is for near average temperatures and rainfall in the DMV.

D.C. residents have seen a fair amount of dry November weather over the last 20 years. There was a notable exception with November 2018 finishing as DC’s wettest on record with 7.57”. 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 DC’s largest November snowfall. There has only been one instance of accumulating November snowfall in the nation’s capital over the last two decades. That’s when 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.