January comes to a frigid conclusion

 

A frigid morning in Bethesda, Maryland

This month will finish as DC’s coldest January in over a decade. January 2026 has also been a snowier and wetter than average month in the nation’s capital.

January will finish with 7” of snow, making this DC’s third consecutive snowier than average (4.9”) January. This is the first time DC has experienced three consecutive snowier than average January’s since 1964-1966. To add to that, this month will finish with 3.16” of rain (including liquid equivalent of melted snowfall) making it a wetter than average (2.86”), January as well.

Temperatures over the first half of the month were generally warmer than average with nine of the first 15 days above average. However, there was a hard pivot to colder than average temperatures. Only two warmer than average days occurred between January 16 and January 31. DC’s average monthly temperature of 33.9° through January 30 will make this the coldest January since 2014 (32.2°).

January’s two signature weather events were the epic winter storm that occurred on January 25 and the extended stretch of subfreezing temperatures afterwards. The 1.99” of liquid precipitation on January 25 made for DC’s wettest day in more than two years.  Not since January 9, 2024 had Washingtonians experienced a wetter day (2.24”). The majority of this month’s snowfall also occurred on January 25 with 6.9” at National Airport.

Temperatures have remained below freezing in the nation’s capital since January 24. Today is the eighth consecutive day of subfreezing temperatures, the longest such streak since December 1989 (10 days). Temperatures aren’t expected to climb above 32° until February 2.

NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center expects the colder than average temperatures to continue through the first half of February across much of the eastern United States.