Friday's High Temp Is a New Low

Something happened in Washington on Friday that had not occurred in 138 years of weather history: For the first time since the National Weather Service began compiling daily data here, the high temperature for Oct. 16 was below 50 degrees.

On a cloudy, chilly Oct. 16 in 1940, the temperature in Washington reached no higher than 51 degrees. That was the lowest high temperature for the date.

Until Friday. On Friday, the day's highest temperature was recorded at Reagan National Airport at 3:34 p.m. It was 45 degrees.

It was six degrees below the old record for lowest maximum, 23 below normal, and 37 below last year's 82. The record high for Oct. 16 is 89, just a degree short of being twice as high as Friday's high.

As of 5 p.m., Friday's high was three degrees above the low of 42 reached at 9:04 a.m.

It was also gray and damp. On The Washington Post's Capital Weather Gang blog, A. Camden Walker said: "Last week I wore shorts, now I need gloves to hold up my umbrella in this cold drizzle-rain!"