Sizzling Summer For Virginia And DC? See Farmers' Almanac Forecast

VIRGINIA/DC — Here's the summer 2022 forecast for Northern Virginia and D.C. in a word —actually three words: hot, humid and thundery, according to the Farmers’ Almanac summer forecast.

The past month has confused trees and plants across Virginia, with temperatures in the 70s for a brief spell, followed immediately by temperatures near freezing. Trees that normally bloom in early April were fooled by the warm weather in March. The cold weather that followed killed many of their blossoms.

Spring thunderstorms usually wait until late April and May to fire up in the D.C. area. This year, the region experienced a few rounds of thunderstorms in March. At least two tornadoes touched down in Northern Virginia during severe storms that moved through the region on March 31.

Looking ahead to late May and early June, the transition from spring to summer will offer more stormy weather in the D.C. area, where the Farmers' Almanac is predicting some big thunderstorms.

During the middle to latter part of July, most of the nation, including the D.C. area, will experience brutally hot conditions, according to the forecast.

Summer officially starts June 21 with the summer solstice.

Summer will be “a hot one nationwide,” the Farmers’ Almanac said. The closest thing to a mild summer will be in New England and the Great Lakes region, but that prediction is based on a wave of cool air arriving in September, according to the Farmers’ Almanac.

According to the forecast, the dog days of summer in late July are expected to be “brutally hot,” with highs in the 90s and triple digits, and “blistering hot” temperatures are expected to persist over Central and Western states.

In the D.C. area, summer "will be hotter and slightly drier than normal, with the hottest periods in mid-June and early to mid-July, from late July into early August, and in late August," according to the forecast.

Rainfall is expected to be about normal in the middle of the country, including in the Great Lakes and north and south-central United States; above normal in the Southeast; and below normal in the Northeast.

Drought conditions are expected to persist in the Southwest, where even the Desert Southwest monsoon rains aren’t expected to deliver any drought relief. The Pacific states will be unusually dry as well, according to the almanac.

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