Trump’s inauguration day was arguably one of the coldest in decades

It was 48 degrees at noon on January 20, 2017, when Donald J. Trump was sworn in for the first time at the Capitol. This time, with a forecast high of 23 degrees, he will be sworn in for one of the coldest inaugurations in decades.

Faced with such cold conditions, he announced on Friday that the ceremony will be moved indoors.

The last presidential inauguration held at the home was Ronald Reagan’s second on January 21, 1985. The parade was also canceled that day due to extreme cold. (“This trembling city reacted with relief tonight at the announcement that the inauguration parade was canceled,” The New York Times reported at the time.)

According to National Weather Service records, the midday temperature that day was 7 degrees, the morning low was 4 degrees below zero, and the high was 17 degrees. the day.

Conditions expected this year, as Arctic air moves across the United States in the next few days, are less violent. However, temperatures will begin to drop in Washington on Sunday, and gusts of up to 30 miles per hour are expected to cross the National Mall on Monday. There is a moderate chance of snow in the city on Sunday.

And with temperatures already below freezing, the wind will make the open space in front of the Capitol feel even colder, said Jeremy Geiger, a forecaster at the Weather Service’s office. in Sterling, Va. It is estimated to be 5 degrees cold in the city air on Monday morning.

It was a sunny 28 degrees but bitterly cold at Barack Obama’s inauguration on January 20, 2009, one of the coldest inaugurations in modern times.

Since the 1930s, most presidential inaugurations have been held on March 4, but even late winter days can be very cold. It was 16 degrees and windy in 1873 when President Ulysses S. Grant was sworn in for a second term.

Sometimes the location of the cold weather in the opening story is not the result of the recorded temperature. William Henry Harrison’s 1841 inauguration took place on March 4, with overcast skies, a gusty wind and an estimated high of 48 degrees at noon.

His speech lasted an hour and 40 minutes, the longest in presidential history, and he did it without a hat or coat. He died a month later from what was thought to be a case of pneumonia that had developed that day. (In 2014, researchers advanced the theory that Harrison’s death in isolation was not caused by the weather, but by typhoid fever he contracted from Washington’s dirty water supply at the time. it’s time.)