【1976 Archives】

976 ArchivesWhite House is copping some negative feedback after posting a picture appearing to herald the year's first snowfall. Why? The temperature hit a high of 70 degrees Farenheit (21.1 C) that day.

On a balmy Sunday evening in January, the White House tweeted a picture of the north portico of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, complete with falling snowflakes.

It boasted the caption: "First snow of the year."

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The only problem? According to the National Weather Service, the temperature was sitting at a high of 65 to 70 degrees Fahrenheit (18.3 to 21.1 C) on Sunday afternoon and evening in Washington D.C., and while the day was cloudy and overcast, it didn't actually snow. Just after midnight, it hit a low of 48 F (8 C), but snow usually, though not always, falls when air temperatures drop below 35 F (2 C).

The White House's tweet prompted quite the flurry of replies, with many pointing out the notable temperature and weather details.

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So, what happened here? Turns out, the photo is five days old. As pointed out by Newsweek, the White House posted the image to its official Flickr account at 11:33 pm ET on Sunday, with a caption explaining that the photo was taken photographer by Tia Dufour on the afternoon of Tuesday, Jan. 7. The tweet did not mention a date, thus the confusion.

So, it pretty much all adds up, but it's worth considering the importance of context when it comes to tweets like this from the White House, even those as relatively low key as as a snow announcement.

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