DC’s surprising Father’s Day weather

 

NOAA's temperature outlook for late-June

Father’s Day in the United States falls on the third Sunday in June. That’s why the calendar date varies from year to year. Yesterday was the earliest Father’s Day occurred since 2014 when it also fell on June 15. DC’s average high/low temperatures on June 15 are 85°/68°.

The high/low of only 72°/65° yesterday made for DC’s chilliest Father’s Day since 2012. By comparison, DC’s hottest Father’s Day in the last 30 years was on June 18, 2007, with a high temperature of 95°. It was also DC’s rainiest Father’s Day (0.33”) since 1999.

There have been some interesting Father’s Day weather trends in the nation’s capital. For example, Father’s Day highs were in the 80s every year from 2018 – 2024. Meanwhile, DC’s longest stretch of Father’s Day highs in the 90s was from 2015 – 2017. Before yesterday, DC’s last Father’s Day with measurable rainfall was in 2021 (0.01”).

The 1990s also featured changeable and extreme Father’s Day weather.  For example, DC’s high of 99° on Father’s Day in 1994 was record-setting on June 19. By comparison, Father’s Day in 1999 was rainy (0.51”) and cool with a high of only 65°. That set a record for DC’s coolest June 20 high temperature.

Weather on any given day can vary widely from one year to the next. DC has seen June’s such as in 2015 when it finished as DC’s seventh warmest, combined with being DC’s second rainiest (11.94”). By comparison, June 2023 not only finished 2.2° cooler than average, but had only half of June’s average rainfall.

Some Washingtonians may recall that last June was exceptionally hot and finished as DC’s second warmest. Although NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center expects warmer than average weather in the nation’s capital over the final seven to 10 days of June, this month won’t finish as hot as last June did.

A closer look at June severe weather

 

Severe weather requires a safe distance (Photo Credit: Robin Beal)

Although less busy in terms of severe weather as compared to May, the DC Metropolitan Area sees a significant amount of severe weather in June. “Severe weather” is defined as a thunderstorm that contains any of the following: hail 1”/+ in diameter; wind gusts of at least 58 mph; or a tornado.

2024: Last June 5 was a particularly active severe weather day across the DC Metropolitan Area. A total of 13 confirmed tornadoes developed with the majority in central Maryland. They ranged in intensity from EF-0 to EF-1 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale. The two longest lasting tornadoes was one that tracked 9.1 miles in Montgomery County, Maryland and another that tracked 15.2 miles. Both were EF-1 intensity and produced widespread damage from falling trees. 

2019: June 2 was an active weather day in the DMV (DC, Maryland and Virginia) with multiple reports of large hail. Hail as large as 2” in diameter was reported in Damascus, Maryland, as well as 1” in diameter hail at the White House. Having widespread large hail in the DC Metropolitan Area is relatively uncommon compared to other parts of the country.

2015: On June 23, hail 3” in diameter was reported in the Baltimore suburb of Cockeysville, while 4” diameter hail was reported in Timonium, Maryland. That nearly tied the Maryland state record for largest hail of 4.5”. According to the National Weather Service, the last time 4” diameter hail was observed in Maryland was in 1999.

2013: A total of six EF-0 tornadoes developed on June 13 in the DMV. Although they were all relatively weak, some occurred in heavily traveled parts of Montgomery and Charles Counties in Maryland and caused minor damage. This was one of the wettest June’s on record in the nation’s capital, with a monthly total of 9.97” of rain at National Airport.

2012:  There were three major instances of severe weather in the DMV. The most notorious was the June 29 derecho that caused widespread damage and power outages. There were two other major severe weather outbreaks that month. One occurred on June 1 with 38 tornadoes concentrated in the Mid-Atlantic Region. Of these, Maryland had 10 confirmed tornadoes, with the strongest an EF-1 in Harford County with peak wind speeds of 86-110 mph. 

On June 22, two downbursts produced damaging winds in the towns of Bladensburg and Johnsville in Maryland. A “downburst” is an area of strong winds that occurs when cold air located high in the thunderstorm accelerates as it descends toward the ground. These winds spread out as they reach the ground, where speeds can approach 100 mph – equivalent to the wind speeds in an EF-1 tornado.

Where are DC's 90-degree days?

 

Early June has also gotten off to a cooler than average start in the nation’s capital following an unusually cool second half of May. No 90-degree heat has occurred yet this year in Washington, D.C. and that’s growing more unusual by the day.

The nation’s capital typically sees its first 90-degree heat of the year in mid-May. However, Washingtonians haven’t experienced any 90-degree May heat three times over the last decade (2016, 2020 and 2023). While 2023 featured a cooler than average summer in the nation’s capital, the summers of 2016 and 2020 finished as DC’s fourth and sixth warmest, respectively. That helps illustrate that while the lack of 90-degree days in May doesn’t always indicate how warm the summer may be, it can offer some clues.

Residents of the DMV (DC, Maryland and Virginia) have experienced cooler than average weather to start June. That will change as a warmup is underway this week with DC’s first 90-degree heat of 2025 likely on June 12 and June 13. That would be DC’s latest first occurrence since 2003 (June 24).

Longtime Washingtonians might remember that 2003 was an exceptionally cool year. However, unlike 2003, NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center is expecting the DMV to see a warmer than average summer in 2025. NOAA’s also expecting this summer to be wetter than average.

While unusual, the nation’s capital not seeing its first day of 90-degree heat until some point in June isn’t record-setting. DC’s record for latest first 90-degree day of the year is July 12, 1979, in what finished as a cooler than average summer. Fans of warm summer weather should, however, be enthusiastic for NOAA’s summer forecast for warmer than average temperatures in the nation’s capital.

Weather Quiz

 

A warm summer's day near the U.S. Capital

When was DC’s latest first 90-degree day of the calendar year?

A. May 15

B. June 11

C. July 12


D. July 16