1Washington is the 172nd warmest of 230 capitals by annual mean. Source: Capitals ranking · monthly means𝕏
2July is the hottest month here, averaging 88.3°F. Source: Monthly means · GHCN-Daily𝕏
3The highest reading in the archive is 105.1°F, on 17 August 1997, and it has stood for 29 years. Source: GHCN-Daily𝕏
Did you knowRecords here begin in 1941 at Washington/Reagan-National Arpt, and the archive holds 62,294 daily values from it, counting each day's maximum and minimum separately.
Did you knowThe station files about 28 readings a day, via METAR reports from the aerodrome.
Did you knowThe thermometer sits 4 m above sea level, the 2720th highest of 2866 stations we hold in United States.
Did you knowReadings are recorded in Celsius. Any Fahrenheit figure on this page is a conversion, not a separate measurement.
Capitals with a similar climate
The capitals immediately warmer and cooler than Washington by annual mean.
July is the warmest month at Washington/Reagan-National Arpt, averaging a daily high of 88.3°F. That is an average of every July day in the archive, not a record: the highest single reading is below.
How cold does it get in Washington?+−
January is the coolest month, averaging a daily high of 43.7°F. The gap between the warmest and coolest month is 76.6°F, which is what the ranking of capitals by annual swing is built on.
What is the highest temperature ever recorded in Washington?+−
105.1°F, on 17 August 1997, in the record held for Washington/Reagan-National Arpt. That is the highest daily maximum in the archive for this station, not a national record and not an official figure: those are set by national meteorological services.
What is the lowest temperature ever recorded in Washington?+−
−5.1°F, on 17 January 1982, in the same archive. Like the high, it is the lowest daily minimum this station has recorded rather than an official national figure.
Sources and checks for this page
Live readings come from METAR reports from the aerodrome at Washington/Reagan-National Arpt. Monthly means and every record on this page are computed from NOAA GHCN-Daily observations stored per station, per year, per month, and the capital list is GeoNames, CC BY 4.0. Nothing here is modelled, interpolated or estimated, and a month the archive never covered is left out rather than filled in. See how this is built.
44.6°F between July and January, the 26th widest swing among the 230 capitals ranked here. The big figure on each card is the average high for that month across the whole record; the two lines beneath it are the hottest and coldest days ever recorded in it.
Across 86 Julys, 1941 to 2026, this station's July average has risen about 0.4° per decade. A fit through this station's own record, not a climate finding. Source: NOAA GHCN-Daily, per station per year per month
📅 On this day here · 31 OctoberRecord for the date: 84.9°F, in 1950. Today reached 55.9°F, 29.0°F short.
4Its best placing worldwide is 544th of 9,187 reporting stations, across the 50 days of rankings held so far. Source: Our own rankings · 50 day window𝕏
1January is the coolest month, averaging 43.7°F. Source: Monthly means · GHCN-Daily𝕏
2The year swings 44.6°F between its warmest and coolest months, the 26th widest of 230 capitals. Source: Capitals ranking · monthly means𝕏
3The widest single day we have recorded here spanned 24.8°F, on 10 November 2026. Source: Our own daily record𝕏
4It has not dropped below freezing on any of the last 7 days. Source: Our own daily record𝕏
5Within United States its best placing is 127th of 2797 stations, over the 50 days of rankings held. Source: Our own rankings · 50 day window𝕏
What is the weather in Washington right now?+−
46.0°F at Washington/Reagan-National Arpt, measured at 06:52 local on Friday, 13 November 2026. This is the live reading from the station this page reads, after our quality checks. It is an observation rather than a forecast: it says what the weather IS, not what it will be.
When did temperature records begin in Washington?+−
The archive held here for Washington, United States starts in 1941, which is 85 years of record, and 62,294 stored daily values, each one a maximum or a minimum.
Which station measures Washington's temperature?+−
Washington/Reagan-National Arpt (KDCA), 4 m above sea level. Every figure on this page comes from that one station rather than from a city-wide average, so it is a measurement at a known place rather than an estimate for an area.
How is the temperature measured and checked?+−
Readings arrive from METAR reports from the aerodrome and are quality controlled before they appear: a value outside a plausible range, or one that jumps further than air can move in the time between readings, is rejected rather than published. Every figure shows its source and the time it was observed.
Are there gaps in Washington's record?+−
The record runs from 1941 to 2026, and it is not equally deep across the year: the thinnest of the 12 months has 85 years of readings behind its average and the fullest has 86. Gaps are left as gaps: a month the archive never covered is omitted rather than filled in, which is why some months on this page carry no record.
Is Washington getting hotter?+−
In its hottest month it has. Across 86 Julys between 1941 and 2026, the average July high at Washington/Reagan-National Arpt has risen about 0.4°F per decade. That is a straight-line fit through this one station's record: it is not corrected for a station that moved or changed instrument, and it is a description of the readings rather than a climate attribution.
How does Washington compare with other capitals?+−
It is the 172nd warmest of the 230 capital cities with a full twelve months of record here, ranked on annual mean rather than on any single day, and 26th by the width of its annual swing. Quito, Andorra la Vella, Bogotá sit closest to it on that ranking.
When is Washington hottest?+−
July, averaging 88.3°F across the record, with January the coolest at 43.7°F. That is a swing of 44.6°F across the year.
Commentary: The sort of cold that gets into the gap between glove and sleeve.