A cold and snowy January?

 

January snowfall (Photo Credit: Susan Granzow)

Despite last month being DC’s coldest December in 15 years, 2025 still finished as DC’s 11^th consecutive warmer than average year. Last year was also the third consecutive drier than average year in the nation’s capital.

January is traditionally the coldest month of the year in the nation’s capital with an average monthly temperature (combining daily high/low temperatures) of 37.5°. NOAA updated its temperature and precipitation averages to reflect the 30-year period of 1991-2020. Since the 2010s were a much warmer decade than the 1980s, it’s not surprising that January’s average temperature increased by 1.8° in Washington, D.C., when the 2010s replaced the 1980s in NOAA’s calculations.

DC’s coldest time of the year based on average temperature occurs in mid-January. The daily average high/low temperatures are 44°/30° for a six-day stretch from January 14 – January 19. The warmest January temperature on record was 80° that occurred on January 26, 2024. By comparison, DC’s coldest January temperature was -14° on January 1, 1881.

Although the nation's capital averages 2.86" of January rainfall, Washingtonians have experienced below average precipitation in seven of the last 10 January’s. DC’s average January snowfall total fell from 5.6” to 4.9” when NOAA’s updated its averages to reflect the 30-year period of 1991-2020.

It’s important to remember January doesn’t have to be colder than average to be snowier than average. For example, January 2024 was a snowier than average month in the nation’s capital with 7.8” of snow, but finished 2.3° warmer than average. Meanwhile, last January was both snowier than average (8.3”) and 3.2° colder than average. Before 2024-2025, the nation’s capital hadn’t experienced above average January snowfall in consecutive years since 2009-2010.

NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center expects this month to be colder than average with near average precipitation in the nation’s capital. Winter weather enthusiasts should remember that the right ingredients need to come together only once to produce an epic winter storm. That’s what happened in January 2016 when DC’s fourth largest winter storm occurred.