Weather Trends for Mason Dixon 1200

The weather in the Mid-Atlantic in early June is in the latter stage of the transition from spring to summer. It’s a great time to ride in the region with the best combination of daylight and mild temperatures before the oppressive heat and humidity of summer take over for the next 3 months. Trees should have their full canopy offering shade from afternoon sun and cooler overnight temperatures offer relief to those who may not be fully acclimated to toasty afternoons.

Temperature: Daily high temperatures typically range from the 70’s to 80’s Fahrenheit and low temperatures ranging from the 40s to the 60s. Mid-afternoon is usually the warmest time in the day, and just before sunrise is typically the coolest. Of course averages are nice when the weather is average, but even the record temperatures for these dates are not that extreme.  Lows could dip as low as the mid 40’s, and an extremely hot day would be in the mid-90s. The graphs below from Lexington, VA, Leesburg, VA and Lancaster, PA show how the average high and low temperatures in early June can range.

Average temperatures for Leesburg, VA.    From –   https://weatherspark.com/

Average temperatures for Lexington, VA.  From – https://weatherspark.com/

Average temperatures for Lancaster, PA.   From – https://weatherspark.com/

While there are never any guarantees with weather, it is almost certain that riders will have to dress for temperatures ranging from the 50s to the mid-80s.

Precipitation: Rain is common in the spring and summer in the mid-Atlantic and can fall in gentle sprinkles to heavy downpours in the core of a thunderstorm, dumping up to an inch of rain in 30-60 minutes. Some storms can grow to severe categories and contain strong winds, heavy downpours with little to no visibility, lightning, hail and the occasional tornado. In early June these would typically be associated with a cold front with significant forewarning ahead of time.

The graphs of rainfall below show line graphs from the past 5 years (2017-2021) at the same three locations (Lexinton, VA, Leesburg, VA, and Lancaster, PA) for June 9-12th. The amount of rain received in a single day can vary dramatically, and any single day with more than an inch of rain is likely from some sort of thunderstorm or possibly an all day light-moderate rain event. Overall, for all three locations and all 5 years, rain fell on only 23 of the 60 possible days accounting for 38% of the days. Of those rainy days however, only 13 days saw more than an half an inch of rain which was only a third of the rainy days. Since rain is so unpredictable there isn’t much you can take from this graph except that there will probably will be at least 1 day with rain, possibly 2. The good news is that if there are thunderstorms they are usually mid-afternoon to early evening. And despite getting a little wet some folks might prefer some clouds and rain to  scorching temperatures and hot sun.

Day Length.    From – https://timeanddate.com