White House Confounds Everyone With Bizarre ‘First Snow of the Year!’ Tweet on Day DC Hits Near Record High 70F

On a Sunday when temperatures reached 70 degrees Fahrenheit in the nation’s capital, the official Trump White House Twitter account perplexed nearly everyone in Washington by posting a nighttime photo of the president’s official residence surrounded by snowflakes with the caption “First snow of the year!”

The post came at the tail end of a weekend in which a record heat wave rippled across the US mid Atlantic and Northeast, setting new record-high temperatures in dozens of cities.

First snow of the year! ❄️ pic.twitter.com/kgSLQX6QxK

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) January 13, 2020

Responses to the bizarre tweet came fast and furious, breaking down into several categories, ranging from basic fact-checking to general dismay and confusion to citing the Trump administration’s long pattern of unsubstantiated claims and climate change denial.

It was 70 degrees today in DC https://t.co/gV6kke5JJi

— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) January 13, 2020

Wait. What? https://t.co/gHuK3Gi9lt

— Jonah Goldberg (@JonahDispatch) January 13, 2020

I am looking forward to interviews of Trump supporters tomorrow who tell us it was not actually 70 degrees in Washington today, but snowing. #gaslightnation. https://t.co/ClfriyKQCD

— Neera Tanden (@neeratanden) January 13, 2020

Someone explain this joke to me. https://t.co/lM8M44EIrL

— Weijia Jiang (@weijia) January 13, 2020

Too bad we don’t have White House press conferences any more so the press secretary could insist it really did snow on a 70 degree day. https://t.co/obE4KWP8c9

— Seth Masket (@smotus) January 13, 2020

gonna✍?need✍?that✍?phone✍?guys✍? https://t.co/00JdXoUDO3 https://t.co/NEmRBc5BH6

— Siraj Hashmi (@SirajAHashmi) January 13, 2020

The American executive branch lies about everything and it is demented https://t.co/hdxzFgM5zM https://t.co/aLwOz5HKVD

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 13, 2020

The White House doesn’t lie about anything. Even though it was in the high 60s today, this most certainly happened. Everything is normal there is no climate change THIS IS A PERFECT TWEET. https://t.co/zCqOmhEnwG

— Allison Robicelli (@robicellis) January 13, 2020

I usually ignore stuff like this, but it’s literally the first time in more than 20 years that Washington has had back-to-back 70-degree days in January. What is even the point of this lie? https://t.co/cy5ZSobDGt https://t.co/JSUEcplKId

— Kimberly Atkins (@KimberlyEAtkins) January 13, 2020

“The moment when we cannot in any way connect what is taking place and what we know is a traumatic one, because the solidity of reality — the belief that its continuity cannot be altered — catastrophically falters.” –@SashaHemon https://t.co/4K3O7eqc1O

— Talia Lavin (@chick_in_kiev) January 13, 2020

How soon before they start tweeting photoshopped pictures of Trump on Mars and calling it real. https://t.co/RURudRSo26

— Molly Knight (@molly_knight) January 13, 2020

January 12, 1984 https://t.co/QSbjNSsojT

— jUSTIN bOLOGNINO (@jbolognino) January 13, 2020

This is 2+2=5 territory, and it’s not at all funny. They know what they’re doing. https://t.co/8qEwj5RNCm

— Daniel Summers (@WFKARS) January 13, 2020

This is a deranged level of gaslighting even for these people. https://t.co/g55GGQeIeq

— Erick Fernandez (@ErickFernandez) January 13, 2020

Perhaps not surprisingly, some in the right-wing media celebrated the White House tweet as a brilliant piece of trolling by the Trump administration, one that will once again reveal how liberals and the mainstream press are so easily triggered.

Tomorrow:

“Does Tweeting A Doctored Photo Of The White House Contribute To The Spread of Disinformation? Analysis By CNN’s Chris Cilizza.” https://t.co/wztLN7RKC6

— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) January 13, 2020

The White House tweeting this when it was in the 60s today may just be what breaks resistance twitter https://t.co/jOXRbJheuj

— Greg Price (@greg_price11) January 13, 2020

The most likely explanation, however, is also the least interesting—that someone on the White House social media team accidentally posted a draft tweet from several days earlier when it had, in fact, snowed in the capital.

The second consecutive day of 70-degree weather in mid-January is an odd time to post a five-day-old snow photo. https://t.co/MzhbcaJ6LK

— Eric Columbus (@EricColumbus) January 13, 2020

Obviously not snowing now in DC — currently 53. My colleague speculates this was an errant draft tweet from last week https://t.co/6ZHk6QXnHr

— David Shepardson (@davidshepardson) January 13, 2020

Mystery solved, via @DavidClinchNews: An official @WhiteHouse photographer took this photo January 7, 2020: https://t.co/gGB2o2HmlI when it did, in fact, snow in DC:https://t.co/Br0bABhyEK
It’s accurate to call it a photo of the 1st snow of 2020, but it wasn’t taken today. Odd. pic.twitter.com/5LMeL1blJS

— Alex Howard (@digiphile) January 13, 2020