The winter of 2009-10 is now the snowiest on record for the nation’s capital.
The National Weather Service measured 9.8 inches of snow accumulation at Ronald Reagan National Airport Wednesday afternoon, lifting the season’s total to 54.8 inches and eclipsing the previous mark of 54.4 inches set during the winter of 1898-99.
The Washington area had endured roughly 45 inches of accumulated snowfall heading into Tuesday’s storm, according to the National Weather Service, and the latest blast was enough to break the 111-year-old record.
This winter is also threatening to break another seasonal snowfall mark.
The snowiest month in recorded history for Washington is February of 1899, when 35.2 inches of snowfall blanketed the District. The total for February 2010 had reached 30.9 inches as of Wednesday afternoon.
Meteorologists say El Niño weather patterns are the cause of the season’s record-breaking winter storms.
“More heat in the tropical Pacific Ocean pumps moisture and heat into the atmosphere, which gets carried by the prevailing winds toward the North American continent, which then turns into fuel for these storms,” said Chris Strong of the National Weather Service.
While the El Niño weather pattern forms across the Pacific about every half-decade, Strong could not say why the current iteration had caused such severe snowstorms.
