As the year headed toward it close in Washington on Monday, the weather and the seasons seemed to go in all directions. Spring warmth visited at noon, but then temperatures fell back toward winter, while strong winds persisted through warm hours and chilly ones.
It was a day on which the weather seemed to come at Washington from all directions, from climes both warm and cold, and in particular from the northwest, traditional winter home of low temperatures and high winds.
For a time Washington gave shelter to temperatures that reached 61 degrees. That reading was recorded a few minutes after noon. In itself it seemed almost a winter wonder. It was 15 degrees above the normal high for Dec. 29.
Yet, it was by no means unheard of. On Dec. 29 of last year, the high was 68. That was only seven degrees below the record for the date of 75, set 41 years ago.
Washington’s 61-degree high was not confined to the vicinity of the White House and the Capitol. At Dulles International Airport, on the northwest edge of the Washington area, the high was 60. It was 16 degrees above the normal high there.
Almost every possible form and variant of weather may occur in Washington at some point in the year. A high reading such as Monday’s is obviously within the bounds of Washington possibility.
But it does not become the normal high until three months from now, on the 29th day of March. That day is in early spring.
Surprising as they were, unusual as they seemed, it was impossible to focus Monday’s meteorological attention solely on Monday’s high temperatures. All things included, Monday was a day of many dimensions: winter, warmth and wind.
It was impossible to ignore the physical force of the wind and the figures the wind put up on the atmospheric scoreboard.
Washington experienced a gust of 54 mph. The highest sustained wind was 33 mph. At Dulles, the peak gust was 50. The strongest wind there reached 40 mph.
The clouds at noon seemed to provide an appropriate backdrop for the drama of early warmth and afternoon wind. While maintaining their gray color, in a shade of gray that seemed particularly ominous, they assumed odd and seemingly distorted shapes, made of lumps and billows heaped upon one another.
At the edges of the clouds, or beneath them, sunlight shone, not pink or orange, but silvery sunlight that seemed almost metallic, and suited to the seeming eeriness of the sky.
It was breezy in the morning, but in the afternoon, after the time of peak warmth, the gusts appeared to take hold, registering regularly in the 40 mph range.
As the wind rose, and certainly as the sun descended, temperatures declined, dropping from the springtime 60s into the levels more commonly associated with late December, the 40s.
Just before 6 p.m. Washington’s temperature had fallen 20 degrees from the day’s high. After touching spring at 61 it had plummeted to 41.
Winds remained strong. A gust reached 38 mph. That was 13 below the day’s peak but still forceful.
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