On this day in 1936, water levels climbed to their second highest level on record on the Potomac River in D.C. during one of its worst floods on record. “Leaping its banks in the afternoon, the river poured over Potomac Park, the water-front streets, the Navy Yard, the Army War College reservation, Bolling Field, the Naval Air Station and the Washington-Hoover airport,” The Washington Post wrote. “The Tidal Basin, ordinarily a placid pool, went over its walls a little later.” The flooding was caused by abnormally wet weather in the first half of the month and massive rainstorm on St. Patrick’s Day.
Related links:
- The Flood of March 17-19 1936 (National Weather Service)
- The Great 1936 Flood of Great Falls… and Everywhere Else (Boundary Stones)
And on this day in 1958, a calendar-day record 2.12 inches of precipitation fell in D.C. Most of that precipitation was a cold rain, but 1.6 inches of snow (or the equivalent of about 0.2 inches of rain) was in the mix. It was a raw day, with a high of 38 and low of 33. The Washington Post front page reported that up to 7 inches of snow fell in upper Montgomery County.
Here are other notables for the day:
- Average high: 57
- Average low: 39
- Record high: 87 (1945)
- Record low: 12 (1876)
- Record precipitation: 2.12 inches (1958)
- Record snowfall: 2.3 inches (1906)
