Political Climate Aside, the Weather on Inauguration Day Will Be Sunny for the 1st Time in 3 Decades

It looks this is the first sunny Inauguration Day since President Bill Clinton was sworn in for his first term nearly three decades ago.

The forecast for DC for President-elect Joe Biden & Vice-President elect Kamala Harris calls for mostly sunny skies on Wednesday with a noon temperature around 40 degrees and a bit breezy. The afternoon high should be around 45 degrees, but wind gusts will keep the “feels like” temperatures in the mid 30s for most of the ceremony.

*As of this writing, just 2 days, 15 hours, 15 minutes, Biden & Harris will be sworn in*

According to CNN, the upcoming Inauguration Day looks like it will have the nearly ideal weather conditions compared to the last 30 years,

Trump‘s 2017 inauguration: Temperature of 48 degrees at noon. Cloudy. Sprinkles at swearing in ceremony; light rain at start of parade. South winds around 5 mph.
Barack Obama‘s 2013 inauguration: Cloudy. South wind 7 mph. Temperature of 45 degrees at noon.
Obama‘s 2009 inauguration: Filtered sun through cirrus clouds. Breezy winds gusting around 20 to 25 mph. Temperature of 28 degrees at noon with wind chill values as low as the mid teens.
George W. Bush‘s 2005 inauguration: Mostly cloudy skies with a temperature of 35 degrees at noon. Around 1 inch of snow was already on the ground.
Bush‘s 2001 inauguration: A cool dreary day, with rain and fog — visibility down to 2 miles, and a temperature of 36 degrees at noon.
Bill Clinton‘s 1997 inauguration: Temperature of 34 degrees at noon with mostly cloudy skies.
Clinton‘s 1993 inauguration: Sunny and pleasant with a noon high of 40 degrees.

President William Henry Harrison served the shortest term as President ‘
dying 31 days after being sworn in

History tells us the weather on Inauguration Day can prove fatal.

In 1841, President William Henry Harrison was sworn into office on a miserable cloudy, cold and windy day. He stood outside for nearly two hours without a hat or overcoat. He wound up catching a cold which developed into pneumonia and he died just one month later.
In 1853, outgoing first lady Abigail Fillmore, who was attending President Franklin Pierce‘s very cold and snowy inauguration, sat on a cold, wet, and exposed platform during the ceremony. She ended up developing a cold as a result, which then turned into pneumonia, and she died at the end of the month.

Meanwhile, in 2021 while a deadly pandemic has claimed nearly 400,000 American lives and 2 million worldwide, we are concerned with different health issues, like crowds which will not be permitted anywhere near the Capitol.