On this date in 1944, D.C. received a calendar-day record 2.01 inches of rain after temperatures climbed to near 90 degrees. The previous day the temperature soared to 97 degrees, a calendar-day record. The Washington Post’s front page reported that the storm triggered lightning that killed 10 cows in Beltsville, Maryland.
“The cows, which were being used in breeding experiments, were struck while standing under an oak tree,” The Post reported. The storm also brought down trees and wires around D.C. and produced damaging hail in Winchester, Virginia.
Highs were only in the 70s the next two days after the storm.
Here are other notables from this day:
- Average high: 86
- Average low: 69
- Record high: 99 (1994)
- Record low: 51 (1909)
- Record rainfall: 2.01 (1944)
