William Henry Harrison took office as the ninth President of the United States on a cold, raw day in March 1841. He chose not to wear a coat or gloves while delivering a speech that lasted nearly two hours. Worn down from stress and the weather, he soon contracted a cold and died just 32 days later, marking the shortest presidency in the nation’s history.
President of the United States is often billed as the toughest job in the world. Weather is usually the first challenge any American president faces on their first moments in office.
Built out of swampy marshlands on the banks of the Potomac River, the weather in Washington, D.C., isn’t for the faint of heart. Conditions on Inauguration Day can vary from comfortably warm to a full-blown blizzard.
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(White House) Obama Biden Inauguration January 21 2013
President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden have a conversation during their inauguration in January 2013. (White House via Flickr)
The U.S. Constitution dictates that newly elected presidents are sworn in at noon on Jan. 20. That wasn’t always the case, though. Presidents who took office before 1937 were sworn in on Mar. 4, a tradition that began with George Washington back in 1789.
Inauguration ceremonies take place on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol, which offers little to no protection from the elements for distinguished guests or audience members alike. You’re at the mercy of the weather when you attend an outdoor event in the middle of January.
A typical Jan. 20 in Washington features a daytime high temperature of about 7°C (45°F) and a nighttime low around -1°C (30°F).
Presidential Inauguration Weather Facts
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Ronald Reagan had both the warmest and the coldest January inaugurations on record. Reagan began his first term in office in 1981 with a temperature of 12.7°C (55°F) as he stood on the Capitol’s steps.
Four years later, though, a reelected Reagan had to take his public oath indoors. Jan. 20 fell on a Sunday in 1985, pushing the ceremonial public inauguration to the following day on Jan. 21. The low temperature that morning reached a record -18.9°C (-2°F), with readings only rising to a frigid -13.8°C (7°F) by noon. Wind chill values made the day too dangerously cold to stand outside.
Most presidents have lucked out with relatively serene conditions for their respective inaugurations.
Donald Trump delivered his first inaugural address amid light rain showers in 2017. Snow flurries gave way to breaks in the clouds for Joe Biden’s 2021 swearing-in. Trump’s second inauguration in 2025 will be held indoors due to the brutally cold conditions predicted in Washington.
Inauguration Day Blizzard 1909
Big storms have been rare on the big day. Washington recorded about 10 mm of rain on the damp day George W. Bush entered office in 2001. The most recent snowstorm to hit the nation’s capital on Inauguration Day saw 20 cm of snow fall just hours before John F. Kennedy took office in 1961.
Not all presidents have been so fortunate. Thousands of men struggled to clear the streets on Mar. 4, 1909, ahead of William Howard Taft’s inauguration. A powerful nor’easter roaring up the eastern seaboard plastered Washington with nearly 30 cm of heavy, wet snow. Despite their best efforts, officials relented to the stormy conditions and held Taft’s inauguration indoors.
Header image courtesy of The White House.