Some of you have asked about the forecast for Washington, DC today and for Tuesday’s big event. Here you go:
Today: Light snow with highs in the mid 30s.
Tonight: Snow early, then mostly cloudy with lows in the mid 20s.
Tuesday: Sun & Clouds with a high in the low 30s.
The rest of the week looks calm in case you’re wanting to stick around and enjoy all the treasures of our nation’s capitol.
Let’s take a moment to look back at Inauguration Day Weather:
The warmest was in 1981 when Ronald Reagan was sworn in. The high was 55 degrees with cloudy skies. The coldest, amazingly, was 4 years later, with Reagan again. The high that day was a cold 7 degrees!
The snowiest days a President took the oath were in 1961 and 1909. In 1961 John F. Kennedy was sworn in with 8 inches of snow on the ground. Another snowy day was in 1909 for William Taft. 10 inches of snow fell that day.
Here are some normals for January Inaugurations:
* Normal high temperature for the day is in the low to mid 40’s.
* Normal low temperature for the day is in the mid to upper 20’s.
* Normal weather for the noon hour is about 37°F under a partly cloudy sky with a 10 mph wind.
* There is about a 1 in 6 chance of precipitation during the ceremony.
* There is only about a 1 in 20 chance of snow during the ceremony.
* If it does rain or snow, there is a 4 to 1 chance it will only wet the pavement.
* There is about a 3 out of 10 chance that there will be snow already on the ground from a previous snowfall.
Special thanks to the NWS office in Sterling, VA for these numbers.
I’m Meteorologist Jason Nicholas
