Washington Ties All-Time Minimum Temperature Record for Second Consecutive Day

Image (click to enlarge): Graph from National Weather Service shows temperatures above 80° at Washington, DC for over 4 consecutive calendar days.

See Record Heat for the latest updates.

July 25, 5 PM Update: The daily low has now dropped to 79°, ending the streak of 80°+ temperatures. The 79° was first reported at 4:15.

July 25, 2 PM Update: Thunderstorms have dipped the temperature to 82°, so the record is still in play, if barely.

July 25, 10 AM Update: With increasing chances for thunderstorms today, it's unlikely to persist through midnight, but this morning's low temperature of 80° would break the high minimum record for the date of 79° set in 1965. It would also stretch the record of consecutive calendar days at 80° or above to 5.

Original post:
With a temperature of 84° at 1 am (midnight standard time), the low temperature for Sunday, July 24, at Washington, DC broke the record warmest minimum for the date by 3°. The previous record was 81°, set just last year. The 84° low on the previous day also broke a daily record by 3°; that record was set in 1978. These 2 consecutive minimums also tied the all-time record high minimum set on July 16, 1983.

This means that for the first time in records which date back 140 years to 1871, the Washington temperature has failed to go below 84° for over 48 consecutive hours. The continuing heat has also extended to 4 days a record stretch of temperatures of 80° or above. The temperature has been above 80° continuously since 8 am on Wednesday, July 20.

New daily high minimum records have now been set on the past 3 consecutive days. This brings to 5 the total number of daily minimum records set or tied this calendar month. The high minimum records were also set on 2 additional days in 2010, so an entire week's worth of July daily records have been set or tied in the past 2 years. Of all of the 31 daily high minimum records for July, only 5 were set prior to 1980. In contrast, only 1 July daily low minimum temperature record has been set or tied since 1980.