Monday, January 21, 2013

Inauguration Weather 2013: Temperature Exceeds Expectations

January 23 Update: The final daily low was 32° at midnight. The hourly data table and climate summary have been updated.

9 PM Update: The temperature reached 47° at 6 pm to exceed the earlier high. The low of 33° is also likely to be surpassed by midnight. (Hourly data table updated.)

Original post:
The weather for Inauguration 2013 has been much warmer than four years ago. The high of 46° was 16° above that of January 20, 2009, and the average of 40° was +4° relative to normal, vs. -9° last time. The official temperature at noon was 40° with a south wind at 10 mph.

The hourly observations:

Hour Wind Weather Temperature Dewpoint Humidity Wind Chill Pressure
12:00 AM NW 23 G 35 Fair and Breezy 32 9 0.38 19 1013.6
11:00 PM NW 17 G 26 Fair 33 11 0.4 22 1013.6
10:00 PM NW 8 G 20 Fair 34 14 0.44 27 1013.4
9:00 PM N 14 G 21 A Few Clouds 35 15 0.44 26 1013
8:00 PM N 18 G 29 Fair 39 14 0.36 30 1012.1
7:00 PM N 15 Mostly Cloudy 41 22 0.47 33 1011.5
6:00 PM NW 5 Overcast 47 25 0.42 45 1009.6
5:00 PM S 6 Partly Cloudy 45 27 0.49 42 1009.1
4:00 PM S 8 A Few Clouds 46 27 0.47 42 1010
3:00 PM S 9 Partly Cloudy 46 25 0.44 41 1011.3
2:00 PM S 10 Mostly Cloudy 44 23 0.43 39 1012.8
1:00 PM S 7 Mostly Cloudy 42 20 0.41 38 1014.6
12:00 PM S 10 Mostly Cloudy 40 21 0.47 34 1016.4
11:00 AM S 6 Mostly Cloudy 38 19 0.46 33 1018.6
10:00 AM SE 7 Mostly Cloudy 38 19 0.46 33 1019.3
9:00 AM E 7 Mostly Cloudy 35 18 0.5 29 1019.5
8:00 AM SE 6 Mostly Cloudy 34 17 0.5 29 1019.6
7:00 AM E 6 Mostly Cloudy 33 16 0.49 27 1019.8
6:00 AM E 7 Overcast 33 15 0.48 27 1019.6
5:00 AM NE 9 Overcast 35 15 0.44 28 1019.4
4:00 AM E 8 Overcast 35 16 0.46 28 1019.4
3:00 AM N 12 Mostly Cloudy 36 14 0.4 28 1019.5
2:00 AM N 10 Partly Cloudy 37 13 0.37 30 1019.5
1:00 AM N 13 Mostly Cloudy 38 14 0.37 30 1018.8
12:00 AM N 8 Mostly Cloudy 39 14 0.36 33 1019

The daily climate summary from the National Weather Service:
..THE WASHINGTON NATIONAL DC CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR JANUARY 21 2013  
  
CLIMATE NORMAL PERIOD 1981 TO 2010  
CLIMATE RECORD PERIOD 1871 TO 2013  
  
WEATHER ITEM   OBSERVED TIME   RECORD YEAR NORMAL DEPARTURE LAST       
                VALUE   (LST)  VALUE       VALUE  FROM      YEAR       
                                                  NORMAL                
..............................................................  
  
TEMPERATURE (F)                                                       
 YESTERDAY                                                             
  MAXIMUM         47    553 PM  70    1959  43      4       34         
  MINIMUM         32   1159 PM  -4    1985  28      4       28         
  AVERAGE         40                        36      4       31        
                                                                       
PRECIPITATION (IN)                                                     
  YESTERDAY        0.00          1.41 1902   0.10  -0.10     0.23      
  MONTH TO DATE    1.21                      1.90  -0.69     1.53      
  SINCE DEC 1      4.24                      4.95  -0.71     6.43      
  SINCE JAN 1      1.21                      1.90  -0.69     1.53      
                                                                       
SNOWFALL (IN)                                                          
  YESTERDAY        0.0           3.5  1982   0.2   -0.2                
  MONTH TO DATE    T                         3.4   -3.4                
  SINCE JUL 1      0.2                       6.2   -6.0                
  SNOW DEPTH       0                                                   
                                                                       
DEGREE DAYS                                                            
 HEATING                                                               
  YESTERDAY       25                        29     -4       34         
  MONTH TO DATE  473                       609   -136      534         
  SINCE DEC 1   1076                      1395   -319     1147         
  SINCE JUL 1   1787                      2090   -303     1742         
                                                                       
 COOLING                                                               
  YESTERDAY        0                         0      0        0         
  MONTH TO DATE    0                         0      0        0         
  SINCE DEC 1      0                         0      0        0         
  SINCE JAN 1      0                         0      0        0          
..............................................................  
  
WIND (MPH)                                                             
  HIGHEST WIND SPEED    26   HIGHEST WIND DIRECTION    NW (320)        
  HIGHEST GUST SPEED    37   HIGHEST GUST DIRECTION    NW (320)        
  AVERAGE WIND SPEED    10.0                                           
  
                                                                       
SKY COVER                                                              
  POSSIBLE SUNSHINE  MM                                                
  AVERAGE SKY COVER 0.6                                                
  
                                                                       
WEATHER CONDITIONS                                                    
 THE FOLLOWING WEATHER WAS RECORDED YESTERDAY.                          
  NO SIGNIFICANT WEATHER WAS OBSERVED.                                 
  
                                                                       
RELATIVE HUMIDITY (PERCENT)                                            
 HIGHEST    51           800 AM                                       
 LOWEST     34          1200 AM                                       
 AVERAGE    43                                                         
   

Seasonal Outlook

Latest seasonal forecast: Click here.


Latest 3-month temperature outlook from Climate Prediction Center/NWS/NOAA.