Weather in Washington in February

A hard month. February asks something of you. Go in knowing what. Highs sit at 6.5 °C and the day is short; this is an indoors-with-excursions month, not an outdoors-all-day one.

February ranks 11 of 12 — near the bottom of Washington's year. October is the month that works, and the swing between the two is 51 points, which is a different holiday rather than a slightly better one.

Rain on 9 days, 2 of them heavy. Enough to need a plan B, not enough to need a plan around it. Layers, and a genuinely waterproof outer — at 6.5 °C the difference between a good day and a miserable one is entirely down to what you are wearing.

What the averages hide

Averages flatten a month, and this one hides a few things: 22 nights drop below freezing, so anything left outside stays frozen. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest February day reached 23.8 °C and the coldest night fell to -18.3 °C, and the wettest single day dropped 41 mm — roughly 59% of the month's rain in one day.

February is moderately variable: 12 mm in the driest year against 174 mm in the wettest, around an average of 70 mm. Roughly two Februarys in three land near that average, and the third does something else entirely.

Wind is light at 11.5 km/h, so the temperature on the page is close to the temperature on your skin, and humidity runs at 80%, which at 6.5 °C means damp rather than muggy — the kind of cold that gets into a coat and stays there.

How February sits in the year

The month is on the way up: 1.7 °C warmer than January, and March adds another 5.1 °C. Late in the month feels noticeably different from the start of it, which is worth knowing if the trip is short.

Daylight in February

10.7 hours of daylight, gaining 1.2 hours across the month. That is between Washington's extremes of 14.9 and 9.5 hours, so days are long enough not to constrain the plan.

An inland climate

With no coast nearby, the year swings a fair way — 34.4 °C between the warmest afternoons and the coldest nights, wider than any coastal city at this latitude would manage.

How busy it gets

Off season. The genuine off season: cheapest by a distance, with the caveat that some tours and restaurants close entirely.

Crowd levels are estimated from climate desirability and school-holiday calendars, not from visitor numbers.

February in Washington versus nearby

If Washington is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Richmond is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, 7 days more rain. Philadelphia is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, the same number of rain days.

So: February is a compromise. October is 45 points better and is what Washington is actually like at its best — worth moving the trip for if that is possible, and worth adjusting expectations for if it is not.

Every month in Washington

See all twelve months in Washington, or where else to go in February.