On this date in 1918, D.C’s temperature soared to 106 degrees, tied with July 20, 1930, for its highest temperature observed on any date. Cumberland and Keedysville in Maryland hit 109 degrees equaling the state record high temperature.
The excessively hot day occurred during a heat wave that torched large swaths of the United States. “All the country sizzles,” read the paper’s headline on Aug. 7.
While it was 106 degrees in the shade at 24th and M streets NW, D.C.’s official weather station at the time, a partially shaded thermometer at a Weather Bureau kiosk on Pennsylvania Avenue hit 114 degrees. Another thermometer, at D.C.’s courthouse, which was “exposed to sun all day,” shot up to 121 degrees, The Post reported.
Read more about this record hot day: A recap of Aug. 6, 1918, the most viciously hot day in D.C. history — with an asterisk
Here are other notables from this day:
- Average high: 89
- Average low: 72
- Record high: 106 (1918)
- Record low: 53 (1912)
- Record rainfall: 2.59 inches (1946)
