After a full week of snowy madness and freezing weather, Washington, D.C. is officially returning to its warmer temperatures later this week! Unfortunately, while the warmer weather is a welcome break from the freezing temperatures that D.C. has had lately, it seems that this weekend will be covered with cloudy skies and rain storms starting Thursday and through most of the weekend.
D.C. snow to melt away after this week
This past week D.C. got hit with its first snowstorm in almost exactly two years, and then just a few days later, was hit again this past Friday! Since then, D.C. has been transformed into a winter wonderland complete with a white blanket of fluffy snow covering a majority of the city, and while the novelty of the snow was incredible for the first few days, it didn’t take long for Washingtonians to get back to warmer weather. Since the first snowfall of the year the other week, D.C. has seen its roads become more dangerous than they have been in years, an army of snowmen arrive on the National Mall, not one but two massive snowball fights, and a whole lot of delays on public transit.
Rainstorms coming to D.C. this week
While this winter was predicted to be particularly snowy back in early November, D.C.’s received quite a lot of rain the last few months and this week seems like it will be more of the same. According to The Weather Channel’s 10-day forecast, rainy showers are set to start around Wednesday evening and will continue through Thursday, and while Friday is projected to be a mostly cloudy day, the rain will pick up again and Saturday and last through the end of the weekend. On the positive side, if the snow or slush has been a hindrance for you this past week, it won’t last much longer; with temperatures reaching the mid-to-high 60s later this week in addition to the rain, the snow and ice will be flushed away fairly soon. However, the not-so-great side of this is that with the rain will also come a fair amount of wind, so while the snow may melt, between the rain and windchill it will still feel like winter.
Flood risks in D.C.
Currently, there is no significant risk of what has been referred to as “dangerous” flooding for most of the D.C. area, however surrounding areas like Old Town in Alexandria, are at a heightened risk of severe flooding. While the streets and parks will not be a very dry walk, there is no considerable threat posed by the rain that should deter Washingtonians from going upon their day-to-day business! It will be a very wet and, despite the increase in temperature, cold weekend here in D.C., so be sure to prepare accordingly.