On this date in 1960, nearly 7 inches of snow fell in Washington. “The season’s first wintry storm dropped 6 to 8 inches of snow on the Washington area yesterday, snarling traffic and causing suburban public and parochial schools to cancel today’s sessions,” the front page of The Washington Post reported the next day. The snow was followed by sleet and freezing rain.
The storm brought a snowy start to a snowy decade. At least 6 inches of snow fell in December six times during the 1960s. December wasn’t the only snowy month that decade. The seasonal snowfall topped 20 inches in 6 out of 10 winters.
In more recent decades, snow has become much more scarce in December.
Here are other notables for this day:
- Average high: 50
- Average low: 35
- Record high: 70 (2021)
- Record low: 12 (1917)
- Record precipitation: 1.66 inches (2008)
- Maximum snow: 6.8 inches (1960)
