It was the warmest day of the new year in Washington on Sunday, and at a time when days usually get a little colder, the high temperature went the other way and made it into the 40s.
Four days obviously do not indicate a trend. Nor can any trend confidently be inferred from the fact that Sunday was the warmest day in the past six, going back to the last two days of December.
The high reading was 43 degrees. Even on a Sunday, with much brightness in the sky and a sense of sparkle in the dry air, 43 was not so high as to occasion hosannas or exclamations of gratitude.
In fact, it was two degrees below the normal high reading in the capital on the fourth day of January. The normal high is 45.
But it did represent, after all, a reading four degrees warmer than any Washington day since Dec. 29, when it was 61. So it may have been interpreted as a sign that it would not be all 30s here for days on end.
The low temperature in the morning was 32. So as of 4 p.m. the temperature had not fallen below freezing all the day long. The first three days of this month and the last two of December had all fallen below freezing.
The wind gusted at times to speeds above 20 mph. Clouds appeared prominent overhead at many hours. But the day often seemed clear, and skies blue.
It was another of the dry days that have been common here since at least the start of December.
Since Dec. 1, the precipitation at Dulles International Airport, in Virginia on the region’s northwestern edge, has amounted to only a little more than one-third of the normal 3.67 inches.
The most recent edition of the U.S. Drought Monitor reports that all of Northern Virginia is experiencing severe drought.
But at the same time, dry conditions appear to impart a certain energizing sense of stimulation to the air. It seemed to be present on Sunday.
In addition, despite an early overcast, it was possible Sunday morning to get an occasional glimpse of a moon event known as the wolf moon.
The moon occasionally shone through gaps and spaces left as the clouds moved. It was waning, but it had been full Saturday morning and on Sunday, 24 hours later, still looked almost — if not completely — full and equally bright.
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