The forecast for Washington, DC on Wednesday is mostly sunny, with a midday temperature of around 40 degrees. It’s expected that be a little airy, with sustained northwest winds at 10 mph, with gusts up to 20 mph.
The high afternoon temperature should warm up a few more degrees, reaching around 45 degrees, but gusts of wind will maintain “sensation” temperatures in the mid-1930s for most of the ceremony.
Blast from the past
By far, the worst climate belongs to the two inaugurations that led to the death of residents of the White House.
In 1841, President William Henry Harrison took office on a cloudy, cold and windy day. He stayed outside for almost two hours without a hat or overcoat. He ended up catching a cold that developed into pneumonia and died just a month later.
Then, in 1853, the departure of First Lady Abigail Fillmore, who was attending President Franklin Pierce’s very cold and snowy inauguration, sat on a cold, damp and exposed platform during the ceremony. She ended up developing a cold, which later turned into pneumonia, and she died at the end of the month.
Don’t forget the date!
However, it is probably not fair to consider many of the opening days before 1937, as the seasons do not coincide.
In 1937, the opening day was moved from March 4th to January 20th as a way to shorten the transition period of the lame duck.
For example, Woodrow Wilson in 1913 (first term) and Ronald Reagan in 1981 (first term) both had the atmosphere of Inauguration Day consisting of cloudy skies and temperatures of 55 degrees. But one of those 55-degree days was in March (when the normal high is 52 degrees), and the other was in January (when the normal high is 43 degrees). So it’s a bigger deal for Reagan than for Wilson.
The snowiest month of the year for DC is actually February, right in the middle of the two opening dates.