Expect the warmer temperatures around D.C. to linger well into fall, NBC Washington meteorologist Doug Kammerer said.
It gets worse, too. You can also expect lackluster autumn foliage and a prolonged allergy season.
“Our average high is in the 70s right now,” Kammerer said. “But over the next 10 days, I don’t have a single day in the 70s. And we’ve got a lot of 80s and 90s to go. My 10-day forecast, as a matter of fact — which takes us into October — has five 90-degree days in there. And I do expect October to be an extremely warm month.
“That doesn’t mean we’re not going to see a few cooler time periods, but it does look like those cool time periods will be rather short lived like we’ve seen already.”
On Monday, Dulles Airport set a new record daily high for September 23, with a high temperature of 94 degrees breaking the previous record of 93 degrees set in 2005 and 2010.
The metaphorical silver lining is rain for an area that needs it. This month could be one of the driest — if not the driest — September on record, he said.
“We’ve only had 0.11 inches. … That’s incredible,” Kammerer said.
October is likely to have what he called “well above average precipitation,” which could include a tropical system. He also expects that above-average rainfall to continue through December.
Cooler weather finally arrives in November. Unfortunately, the recent hot, dry conditions won’t allow for the leaves to change colors correctly, Kammerer said.
“I expect to see fairly dull fall foliage coloring as we move on through … peak, which is normally right around Halloween in our area,” he said.
The other effect of the hot and dry conditions is more sneezing and wheezing. Allergy season, Kammerer said, will “go a little bit longer, and that’s something that’s happening with climate change. We are seeing that average allergy season last a little bit longer.”
WTOP’s Madeleine Simon contributed to this report.
