WASHINGTON — The bitter cold that has walloped the D.C. region in recent days has broken a few records and bottomed out at some wild temperatures.
A 16-day forecast of temperatures 35 degrees or lower is the longest stretch with these temperatures since 1961, Storm Team 4 meteorologist Amelia Draper said Monday.
Finally an extended forecast that doesn’t call for extended cold. This 16 day stretch of temps 35° or lower is the longest such run since 1961. #Working4You pic.twitter.com/lSCtL3x8ot
— Amelia Draper (@amelia_draper) January 8, 2018
The records for lowest temperature were broken at BWI Marshall Airport and Dulles International Airport on Saturday morning.
At Dulles, the temperature fell to a painful -1 at about 7 a.m., breaking a previous record of 1 degree recorded in 2014. At BWI Marshall, the temperature fell to 1 degree at 6:30 a.m., breaking the 2014 record of 3 degrees.
The record for the coldest high was also broken on Friday at Dulles, reaching only 19 degrees. According to the National Weather Service, the previous highest cold temperature was 21 degrees in 1986.
The National Weather Service created a list of wind chill temperatures recorded locally on Friday. Here are some of the most impressive ones:
- In D.C., wind chill temperatures reached minus 13 degrees at American University.
- In Montgomery County, Maryland, wind chills were recorded at minus 17 degrees in Gaithersburg. In Prince George’s County, Upper Marlboro saw wind chills of minus 13 degrees.
- In Virginia, a wind chill of minus 11 degrees was record at Dulles. The City of Manassas saw a comparatively toasty 7 below.
Check out the full list from the weather service.
The temperature registered -37 on Saturday at the Mount Washington Observatory in New Hampshire, one of the coldest places on the planet. The wind chill was minus 93. It tied for second place with Armstrong, Ontario, as the coldest spot in the world.
Meteorologist Mike Carmon said people at the observatory were “layering up as much as we can.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
