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D.C.-area forecast: Temperatures seesaw this week between mild and cool, while extreme winter weather stays away

February 17, 2020 at 5:00 a.m. EST
Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge in Maryland on Saturday. (angela n./Flickr)

Today’s daily digit

A somewhat subjective rating of the day’s weather, on a scale of 0 to 10.

7/10: Partly sunny and 50 on a mid-February holiday is hard to argue with.

Express forecast

  • Today: Partly sunny. Highs: Near 50.
  • Tonight: Mostly cloudy. Lows: 35-40.
  • Tomorrow: Mostly cloudy with a few showers. Highs: 55-60.

Forecast in detail

Temperatures bounce around this week, but anyone seeking legitimate winter cold and snow best look elsewhere. High temperatures are near and above 50 through Tuesday before briefly cooling down to the 30s on Thursday and Friday. But the cold air has little staying power, as high temperatures near 50 again this weekend. There’s little precipitation this week, with just a few showers Tuesday and maybe a few snowflakes late Thursday.

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Today (Monday): Partly sunny skies on a good-looking February day. Highs range from the upper 40s in our cooler areas to the low 50s or so elsewhere. Light breezes from the northeast. Confidence: High

Tonight: Skies become mostly cloudy, with a slight chance of some sprinkles or showers toward morning. Lows range from 35 to 40. Confidence: Medium-High

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Tomorrow (Tuesday): Southeasterly winds (around 10 mph) ahead of a cold front try to draw up mild air. But some cooler air wedged over the region may not cede its ground — so we’ll lean toward high temperatures closer to 50, rather than the 60 degrees some models are forecasting. We’ll have a good deal of cloud cover with some scattered showers around. More hours are dry than wet, and the showers we see shouldn’t amount to a whole lot (more than 0.25 inches or so). Confidence: Medium

Tomorrow night: Gradual clearing as the cold front clears the region. It becomes breezy and colder with lows in the 30s. Confidence: Medium-High

A look ahead

Cooler air trickles into the region on Wednesday, but the core of the cold has yet to arrive. Highs should reach the mid-40s with partly sunny and breezy conditions. Partly cloudy and cold at night with lows in the 20s. Confidence: Medium-High

Thursday and Friday are the two coldest days of the week, with highs of only 35 to 40, pretty similar to what we saw last Friday and Saturday. A little disturbance sliding by late Thursday could trigger a few snow showers or flurries but shouldn’t be a big deal. Lows Thursday and Friday nights are mostly in the 20s (maybe some teens in our colder areas Thursday night). Confidence: Medium-High

Milder temperatures return quickly for the weekend. Under partly sunny skies, highs are near 45 to 50 on Saturday and 50 to 55 on Sunday. Lows Saturday night into Sunday morning are in the 30s. Confidence: Medium