On this date in 1945, the temperature soared to a calendar-record 88 degrees. “Mercury Hits 87 for Hottest St. Patrick’s Day in D.C. History,” read a headline on the front page of The Washington Post the next day. (Although The Post reported a high of 87, official National Weather Service records indicate the high was 88.) It hasn’t been warmer than that on St. Patrick’s Day in the 80 years since.
It marked the second straight day of record warmth, after a high of 87 on March 16, “coaxing the city’s first two magnolia trees into full bloom,” The Post wrote.
Here are other notables for the day:
- Average high: 57
- Average low: 39
- Record high: 88 (1945)
- Record low: 13 (1900)
- Record precipitation: 1.34 inches (1990)
- Record snowfall: 3.9 inches (2014)
