Background: There are lots of “urban legends” and people predicting how snowy or cold a winter will be based on things like caterpillar coloration, the Old Farmer’s Almanac, or the weather in the year leading up to winter. A Washington, D.C. meteorologist decided to test out a few hypotheses about whether winter weather is related to the weather during the rest of the year.

The graph shows summer rainfall (called “JJA Rainfall”, meaning June, July, and August) in blue diamonds, and “Winter Snowfall” in red squares from the late 1800’s to the most recent year of data, for Washington D.C. 

Data Source: