Winter 2011-2012, in D.C., ranked the third warmest with an average high of 43.4°.  With all of the "warmer than average temperature" talk I've been hearing, I thought it would be neat to look back at past record breaking warm winters to see if there is a correlation between above average winters and above average summers. 

We all remember 2010 and 2011's scorching temperatures.  The average summer high, for both years, was roughly 81°, about 3° above average.  But looking back at both 2010 and 2011's winters, they were both about 2 to 3° below average.

Here's a list of the top 10 warmest winters in D.C.   I've also added the following summer's averages and how far above or below those temperatures deviated from average.

 

From this list, you can see there is nothing that really stands out.  Out of the ten warmest winters, about half of the summers after were above average and the other half below average for summer temperatures. 

Here's another list of the top ten warmest summers. I've also included the winter averages for those years. 

 

Again, no real correlation, as the 10 warmest summers had a mix of above average and below average winters.  So if you're wondering what kind of a winter we can expect, it looks like past climate data isn't really steering us in any particular direction.