Forecasters: Trump’s inauguration on Monday expected to be coldest in 40 years
Lycoming County expects slight reprieve from cold snap

While not exactly a heatwave, the region will experience a slight warmup through what is expected to be an otherwise uneventful weekend, according to the National Weather Service.
“The Williamsport area will see kind of a reprieve this weekend from the really cold weather this week,” Meteorologist Bill Gartner said.
“This weekend will be on the mild side, with the highs on Saturday about 37, and a little cooler by Sunday afternoon with a high of only 31,” Gartner, who works out of the State College office, said, adding that colder air will return to the area Sunday night.
“There could be a little bit of snow late Friday night into Saturday, but nothing … significant,” Gartner said, noting that drivers should still remain vigilant.
“Certainly any snow or anything on the roads needs to be watched out for,” he said.
Similar conditions are expected in the Washington D.C. area through the weekend and into Inauguration Day.
“There could be some snow on Saturday, but the biggest thing is going to be the cold, and I don’t think there’s any big, significant snow event at this point,” Gartner said.
“Sunny on Monday in D.C., with a high of 21, and then mostly sunny on Tuesday, with a high near 20, so super cold — not as cold as here because we’re further north, but no big storms in the offing,” he said.
With the intense cold weather moving into the D.C. area, the swearing-in ceremony for President-elect Donald Trump’s second term will be held in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol, the Associated Press reported Friday afternoon.
“Alternate plans are required for the roughly 250,000 guests ticketed to view the inauguration from around the Capitol grounds and the tens of thousands more expected to be in general admission areas or to line the inaugural parade route from the Capitol to the White House,” the Associated Press reported.
While Monday’s weather is expected to be calm, it’s also expected to be the coldest inauguration in 40 years, according to the National Weather Service.
Due to a frigid noon temperature of only 7 degrees Fahrenheit, the 1985 second Inauguration of President Ronald Reagan was also moved indoors, and the parade cancelled, as blustery winds dropped the wind chill to between -10 and -20, according to data from the National Weather Service.
Only the second inauguration of President Ulysses S. Grant in 1873 saw colder conditions. Though the noon temperature reached 16 degrees Fahrenheit, wind gusts up to 40 mph dropped the wind chill to between -15 and -30 degrees.
The 1909 inauguration of William Howard Taft saw the most snow of any swearing in with 9.8 inches falling on the capitol as strong winds ripped through the area, according to the National Weather Service.
By contrast, both President Woodrow Wilson’s 1913, and Reagan’s first inauguration in 1981 topped out at 55 degrees, though President Gerald Ford would set a record of his own during his August 1974 inauguration following the resignation of President Richard Nixon.
Ford was sworn in under hazy, partly cloudy skies and a noon temperature of 89 degrees, according to data available through the National Weather Service website.
More fun facts on past Inauguration Day weather events can be found at www.weather.gov/lwx/events_Inauguration.