(NEXSTAR) – On Monday, freezing temperatures in Washington D.C. prompted organizers to move President Donald Trump’s inauguration ceremony inside the Capitol Rotunda for the first time since 1985.
“The weather forecast for Washington, D.C., with the windchill factor, could take temperatures into severe record lows,” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform Friday. “There is an Arctic blast sweeping the Country. I don’t want to see people hurt, or injured, in any way.”
The temperature for D.C., according to the National Weather Service, was around 24 degrees Fahrenheit at noon on Monday. “Brisk” winds made it feel significantly colder, according to the NWS.
News of the ceremony moving indoors, while upsetting to many Trump supporters who traveled to D.C. to watch the Trump take the Oath of Office in-person, is not entirely without precedent. The swearing-in of President Ronald Reagan was moved indoors in 1985, before Reagan began his second term. That day, the temperature in the nation’s capital was 7 degrees Fahrenheit, with wind chills in the -10 to -20-degree F range in the afternoon, the National Weather Service reported.
It was also the coldest Inauguration Day on record.
White House press secretary Larry Speakes, a few days before that ceremony, said Ronald and Nancy Reagan didn’t love the idea of moving the ceremony indoors, but “felt they had no choice.”
“We would have had probably some very serious problems for some of the participants,” Speakes said, according to transcripts from the Reagan Library. “[…] the medical people told them that exposed areas would freeze in less than five minutes, with wind-chill factors like this.”
A couple of other exceptionally cold Inauguration Days occurred in 2013, when President Barack Obama was sworn in amid 28 degrees F and wind chills in the teens; in 1977, when President Jimmy Carter was inaugurated amid similar temperatures and wind chills; in 1961, when President John F. Kennedy took the Oath of Office in 22-degree weather with snow on the ground; and in 1941, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt was sworn-in for a third term on a sunny 29-degree day with wind chills at 10 degrees, according to NWS records.
Prior to the ratification of the 20th Amendment, Inauguration Day was held in March. Despite this, several presidents were also sworn-in amid freezing temperatures, including William H. Taft, Grover Cleveland (second inauguration), Ulysses S. Grant (second inauguration), Martin Van Buren, Andrew Jackson (second inauguration) and James Monroe (second inauguration).
Aside from Trump and Reagan, inauguration ceremonies were moved indoors amid inclement weather multiple times throughout U.S. history. Taft’s inauguration, on March 4, 1909, was held on the Senate floor of the U.S. Capitol building, with temperatures dropping to 32 degrees and a blizzard outside. James Monroe’s second inauguration, on March 5, 1821, was also held in the U.S. Capitol, in the House chamber, due to a snowstorm and estimated temperatures of 28 degrees.
Following the announcement of Trump’s inauguration moving indoors, more than 250,000 guests were ticketed to view the inauguration from around the Capitol grounds and tens of thousands more were expected to be in general admission areas or to line the inaugural parade route from the Capitol to the White House.
Tens of thousands of those supporters instead headed to the Capital One Arena for the chance to watch the inauguration on screens.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
