On this day in 2000, a calendar-day record of 9.3 inches of snow fell in the District. Parts of the region saw up to 18 inches. The storm “rendered the region ghostly by dawn with a foot of snow and kept it that way through the night with icy missiles that were blown by 30 mph winds into eyes and ears and under coat collars,” wrote The Washington Post’s Michael E. Ruane.
Little snow had been predicted the day before, but the storm, expected to go out to sea, instead roared up the Mid-Atlantic coast. The Post wrote this detailed review: Blindsided and Snowed Under: High-Tech Tools Fooled Forecasters.
And on this day in 2026, heavy snow and sleet fell amid frigid temperatures in the teens and 20s. About 6 to 9 inches accumulated but consolidated into a rock hard conglomeration dubbed “snowcrete.” Historically cold weather followed the storm and the snowcrete took weeks to melt blocking roads and causing prolonged school closures.
Here are other notables for the day:
- Average high: 45
- Average low: 30
- Record high: 75 (1950)
- Record low: 3 (1935)
- Record precipitation: 1.99 inches (2026)
- Record snowfall: 9.3 inches (2000)
