Trump inauguration forecast to be one of the coldest on record

President-elect Donald Trump is forecast to have a cold start to his second term, as the Monday inauguration is projected to be one of the coldest on record.

Trump’s swearing-in ceremony on the West Front of the Capitol at noon Monday is forecast to be “brutally cold,” according to the National Weather Service. The temperatures in the Washington area are expected to be in the teens and lower 20s degrees on Monday, with wind chill in the region ranging from -5 to 15 degrees.

“Strong cold advection will ensue locally behind Sunday’s system, with temperatures crashing Sunday
night into Monday, and remaining brutally cold through Tuesday and Wednesday. All signs point to this being the coldest three day stretch of weather in 5 years,” the weather service’s forecast Thursday said.

Trump inauguration forecast to be one of the coldest on record  at george magazine
FILE – The sun rises behind the U.S. Capitol as a rehearsal begins on the West Front ahead of President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration, Sunday, Jan. 12, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jon Elswick, File)

The cold blast will affect significant parts of the country outside of the nation’s capital, but all eyes will be on how it will affect Trump’s inauguration and if it will make history.

The coldest inauguration on record was President Ronald Reagan’s second swearing-in ceremony in January 1985, when the temperature was 7 degrees, followed by President Ulysses Grant’s ceremony in 1873 at 16 degrees and President John F. Kennedy’s ceremony in 1961 at 22 degrees.

Reagan’s 1985 ceremony was moved inside to the Capitol Rotunda due to the cold temperature and wind chills estimated to be in the -10 to -20 degrees range.

The presidential inauguration was held on March 4 until the 20th Amendment changed the date to Jan. 20 (or Jan. 21 on years the ceremony falls on a Sunday) since the 1937 swearing-in ceremony.

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The warmest temperature for an inauguration since the date change was Reagan’s first swearing-in ceremony in 1981, which was the first one to be held on the West Front of the Capitol. The temperature on Jan. 20, 1981, at noon in Washington was 55 degrees.

The Monday inauguration will be the 60th swearing-in ceremony and will mark the second time a president is sworn in for a second, nonconsecutive term after former President Grover Cleveland in the 19th century.

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