The official start to summer

 

A stellar day in suburban Washington, D.C. (Photo Credit: Susan Granzow)

Last month was DC’s first cooler and drier than average May since 2023. Despite May being cooler than average, the three-month period of March, April and May finished as DC’s sixth warmest “meteorological spring.” That was the result of March and April each being significantly warmer than average. The three-month period was also so dry that it ranked as DC’s tenth driest such period.

NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center expects June to feature warmer than average temperatures in the nation’s capital with near average rainfall. 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 in just the last 20 years. 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”. NOAA weather records in the nation’s capital date back to 1871.

DMV (DC, Maryland and Virginia) residents have endured a lot 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 DMV (DC, Maryland and Virginia). More recently, multiple EF-0 and EF-1 tornadoes struck the DMV on June 5, 2024.

June is also the third hottest month of the year on average in the nation’s capital behind only July and August. However, the first few days of this June will continue to feature below average temperatures and dry conditions across the DMV. Although meteorological summer officially begins on June 1, popular opinion is that summer gets underway on the date of the summer solstice, that’s always on or around June 21.