2016 Weather in Northern Virginia: One of the Warmest, Driest on Record

The National Weather Service reports that 2016 will go down as one of the warmest and driest on record for Northern Virginia.

2016 temperatures second highest

The average annual temperature was 60.4 degrees last year at Reagan National Airport, the second highest average since the weather service started keeping records there in 1941. (The warmest average annual temperature was in 2012, at 61.5 degrees).

At Dulles Washington International Airport, the average annual temperature was 57.1 degrees, also the second highest (tying with 1998) since the weather service started keeping records there in 1962. The warmest average was in 2012, at 57.9 degrees.

2016 precipitation 12th lowest

The total precipitation for 2016 at Reagan National was 31.70 inches, the 12th lowest amount recorded (the lowest amount of precipitation ever recorded was in 1930, with 21.66 inches).

At Dulles Washington, the total annual precipitation was 35.33 inches, the eighth lowest recorded (the lowest was in 2007, when only 27.02 inches fell).

On a larger scale, the six-month period from January to June last year was the planet's warmest half-year on record, with an average temperature 1.3 degrees Celsius (2.4 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than the late nineteenth century, according to NASA.

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