Fall Forecast 2017: Will Summer Warmth Linger In DC, Virginia?

WASHINGTON, DC — The early forecast for fall 2017 in Virginia and Washington, D.C., calls for summer warmth to linger across the Mid-Atlantic states. That should be good news if you plan to pick apples, take the kids to a corn maze or take in football games in the coming months.

According to the experts at the National Weather Service, temperatures across the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions will be above average for the three-month period through November. The worst of the hot temps may be up and down the East Coast, plus the Pacific Northwest, says AccuWeather. Hurricane season, which peaks in September, may still bring a risk of flooding from Florida up through Georgia and as far north as Virginia.

A warm start to fall — which doesn't officially begin until Sept. 22 — “doesn’t mean it’s going to be exceptionally warm, but we do feel [temperatures are] going to run above normal,” AccuWeather long-Range forecaster Paul Pastelok said. (SIGN UP: Subscribe to a Virginia Patch News Alert and Newsletter. For DC readers, Get Patch’s daily newsletter and news alerts. Or like us on Facebook. Or, if you have an iPhone, download the free Patch app.)

Rainfall will help to hold back extreme heat. And he says that it's much too soon to tell how these predictions, if they come true, could affect fall foliage, according to AccuWeather's 2017 fall forecast.

The National Weather Service three-month outlook predicts above-normal high temperatures the entire length of the East Coast, from Maine to Florida.

And the Weather Channel seems to agree, predicting much of the East, South, as well as the northern Plains into parts of the Rockies, will likely see temperatures near or slightly above average from September through November.

The forecast is good news for Virginia residents and tourists anticipating Taste of DC, the Virginia Wine Festival, the Maryland Renaissance Festival and other high-profile fall events.

Two years ago the Mid-Atlantic region suffered through an intensifying El Niño weather pattern that brought three feet of snow to much of Maryland and Virginia in a January 2016 storm, closing roads for days, schools for a week and trapping residents indoors. Last year, much less snow fell, although when it did fly it seemed to strike at the worst times for commuters.

Patch file photo by Beth Dalbey