i think it's pretty safe to say that a 5" snowstorm after Feb 20 in the immediate DC metro is much rarer than it is from Jan 1 to Feb 20. If we count the number of such storms that have happened in that period vs the number of times where such a storm hasn't happened, I would wager that the latter would far outnumber the former.
sure, but a snowstorm around here in late march is what, a 3 or 4 sigma event? probabilistically, significant snow after mid feb is rare, and becoming rarer.
that's 16 years ago. things have changed. sure you could get the anomaly and up by you it certainly is more favorable. but inside the beltway, we struggle to hit freezing at night in the heart of winter. my mid/late feb, the flowers are blooming (hell flowers around here basically never died).
nothing but green grass here downtown (where we have grass lol) - but we drove up to the cathedral and there was a nice dusting up there. elevation matters, even in the middle of the city.
overnight low of 35 right downtown - another night where we can't even get near freezing in the heart of winter. at some point we should start planting some palm trees (some apt buildings around here have actually done that).
you get an initial drop around sunset of a few degrees and then it just holds steady - i remember plenty of mornings in NYC where we'd be around 30 and literally 20-30 miles west in NJ it would be near 0.
fantastic day in the mid 50s here in the District - you can smell spring right on the horizon.
the Mall and all the open space has been a refuge for my 2yr-old daughter and me during the pandemic. Today, she asked the Washington Monument (which she claims is hers) what its favorite food was.
yeah the mall has tons of open areas with limited tree cover - they get torched.
on some side streets you still have some snow in planters on the sidewalk and open space that is under the shade of buildings still has snow.