On this date in 1978, violent thunderstorms raced across the D.C area, which were described as “the worst in two decades.”
“A series of severe thunderstorms tore through the Washington area last night, driving the temperature down 18 degrees in one hour, felling thousands of trees, and triggering scores of power outages from the tip of Montgomery County through the District of Columbia and into the Virginia suburbs,” the front page of The Washington Post reported the next day. “The storm, one of the most severe and widespread to hit the area in recent memory, was accompanied by wind gusts clocked as high as 80 miles an hour at Dulles International Airport and other measuring sites in the area.”
And on this date in 2015, multiple lines of showers and storms deluged the area, establishing calendar-day rainfall records and producing areas of flooding. D.C. observed 2.75 inches of rain
Here are other notables from this day:
- Average high: 88
- Average low: 71
- Record high: 99 (2010)
- Record low: 57 (1927)
- Record rainfall: 2.75 inches (2015)
