DC’s exciting snow day

 

January snowfall in Bethesda, Maryland

The right ingredients came together on Monday to produce beneficial snowfall across the DC Metro Area, as well as several local January 6 snowfall records. It was also the snowiest day in the nation’s capital in nearly six years.

A total of 7.2” fell at Reagan National Airport on January 6 and that was DC’s largest snow total since 10.3” occurred during a longer lasting storm from January 12 – 14, 2019. Although it wasn’t record-setting, the 7.2” was DC’s largest daily snowfall since January 13, 2019 when 8.3” occurred as part of the larger, multi-day snow event.

Meanwhile, both Dulles Airport (6.0”) and BWI Airports (6.6”) set new January 6 snowfall records. It’s also unusual for National Airport to see a higher snow total than both Dulles and BWI Airports. 

The January 6 total of 7.2” has already given the nation’s capital a snowier than average month since DC averages only 4.9” of January snowfall. While January is DC’s coldest month of the year, February is typically the snowiest month based on NOAA averages. However, the nation’s capital has seen several memorable January winter storms.

Today is the 29^th anniversary of DC’s sixth largest snowstorm that occurred from January 7 – 9, 1996. It dropped 17.3” of snow at National Airport.

The January 2016 winter storm finished tied with the February 2010 storm since they each produced 17.8” of snow and rank as DC’s fourth largest snow events. The January 2016 storm was DC’s last Top 10 snowfall and the last time 10” or more has occurred during a 24-hour period. There hasn’t been much snow in the nation’s capital since that epic winter storm almost nine years ago.

With Monday’s 7.2” of snow, January 2025 has become only the sixth snowier than average month in the nine years since the record-setting January 2016 winter storm. There has also been only one snowier than average winter (2018-2019) in the last nine years. 

The nation’s capital averages 13.7” of annual snowfall, so the city is more than halfway to that total. It will be interesting to see how much more snow occurs before springtime arrives.

January snowfall trends in the nation’s capital

 

A January snow day in Bethesda, Maryland

Although two of the last three January’s have been snowier than average in the nation’s capital, only eight of the last 20 January’s fit that criteria. It's important to distinguish how a snowier than average month doesn’t always mean there will be a snowier than average winter season as a whole. Here's a closer look at some of the snowier than average January’s.

January 2024: The nation's capital ended its snowfall drought  on January 15. That's when 3.4" of snow fell as part of a two-day total of 4.1" at National Airport. Prior to this storm, the last inch of snow Washingtonians experienced was on January 16, 2022 (2.6"). Winter weather enthusiasts got a second round of snow a few days later with 3.7" on January 19. The month’s total of 7.8" is above DC's January snowfall average of 4.9".

January 2022: There was a monthly total of 12.3" of snow with accumulating snowfall on four days. The largest winter storm this month was 6.9" of snow on January 3. Making this snowfall particularly impressive is that it occurred following 10 consecutive warmer than average days, including highs in the 60s on January 1 and January 2. The 2021-2022 winter finished with 13.2", just below DC’s annual snowfall average of 13.7".

January 2016:  While “only” 17.8” fell at National Airport, 22.4” fell at the National Zoo. Areas west and north of town saw appreciably more. For example, Dulles Airport had its second largest snow total on record with 29.3”, according to the National Weather Service. Totals of more than three feet were observed in central Maryland and parts of Virginia.

The Blizzard of 2016 ranks as the fourth largest snowstorm on record in Philadelphia with 22.4”. It set snowfall records at JFK and LaGuardia Airports (30.6” and 28.2” respectively) in New York City. Meanwhile, New York City’s Central Park finished with 27.5” that set its all-time snowfall record.

January 1996: This storm brought the nation’s capital 17.3” of snow on January 6-7, 1996. The January 1996 blizzard was D.C.’s single largest snowfall since the President’s Day 1979 storm (18.7”). The epic January 1996 snow event is one of only two winter storms to be ranked as a Category 5 or “extreme” storm on NOAA’s “Northeast Snowfall Impact Scale.”

 

With a monthly total of 23.8”, January 1996 was the snowiest January in Washington, D.C. since 1935. It remained DC's largest snow event until "Snowmageddon" in February 2010 that was later tied by the January 2016 winter storm.  This winter storm also produced 24.6” of snow at Dulles Airport that was its largest snow event on record at the time and is currently third largest behind “Snowmageddon” (32.4”) and January 2016 (29.3”), according to the National Weather Service.

2025 gets underway

 

A January view from National Harbor, Maryland

2024 was DC’s warmest year on record. It ended with a warmer and drier than average December. There will be a hard pivot to more winter-like weather as 2025 gets underway.

January is 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 recently 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° 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 in the nation’s capital are 44°/30° for a six-day stretch from January 14 – January 19. The warmest January temperature on record was 80° that occurred just last year on January 26. 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 six of the last 10 January’s. That includes DC’s fourth driest January on record in 2018 (0.94”). However, January 2024 was DC’s rainiest January since 1979 with 5.88”. The January snowfall average fell from 5.6” to 4.9”, according to NOAA's 30-year period from 1991-2020.

It’s important to remember January doesn’t have to be colder than average to be snowier than average. January 2024, for example, was a snowier than average month in the nation’s capital with 7.8” of snow, but also finished 2.3° warmer than average. The nation’s capital hasn’t had 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. The right ingredients need to come together only once to produce an epic winter storm like what happened in January 2016, which was D.C.’s fourth largest snow event on record.