On this day last year, the high in Washington hit 80 degrees for the first on record in January, surpassing the previous monthly record of 79, set on the same date in 1950. The 80-degree high occurred earlier than any other year by several weeks. The previous earliest 80 occurred on Feb. 21, 2018. In an average year, Washington doesn’t post its first 80-degree high until March 28.
Jan. 26 is also the anniversary of the 2011 “Commutageddon” storm in which heavy snow coincided with the afternoon and evening commute, stranding thousands of motorists, some for many hours. “Just as hundreds of thousands of federal workers were being sent home early, a sudden dump of heavy, wet snow … turned major thoroughfares into icy, slushy parking lots,” The Washington Post reported the next day.
Here are other notables for the day:
- Average high: 45
- Average low: 30
- Record high: 80 (2024)
- Record low: 5 (1948)
- Record precipitation: 1.52 inches (2011)
- Record snowfall: 6.9 inches (1966)
