Just
wait, it'll change
When it comes to North Texas weather, forget about absolutes.
It's probably going to be hot during the summer and a bit
chilly in January... but even with those generalities, don't
look for any guarantees.
In 1967, Dallas-Fort Worth
residents woke up to one 56-degree morning in August
(when the normal low is a balmy 74).
Just seven years ago,
the temperature was as high as 95 degrees in February
(a month when the normal high is 60).
Unreasonable
Though the average number
of 100-degree days per year is 15, even that can
vary wildly. There were 56 such days in 1998 and
46 in 2000. (Does anyone dare claim that air conditioning
is a luxury here?)
On the list of things
to be thankful for, though: There were only eight
100-degree days in 2001.
Going to extremes
Check the numbers for 1916, when the temperature was
25 on March 3 and 100 just 22 days later.
Chill out
At least North Texans get a respite — usually
— from severe weather in the winter. But even
that is not a certainty.
Average winter daily lows
are in the mid-30s, and subzero weather is almost
unheard of (there are only four days on record below
zero).
Still, ice storms strike
periodically, and when they do, many schools and
businesses close for the day. A 1978 ice storm knocked
out power to nearly 300,000 people in Dallas County
and caused $14 million in damage.
LAW
OF AVERAGES
FOR
THE RECORD
Days per year with
precipitation: 78
Days per year with thunderstorms: 46
100-degree days per year: 15
Fewest
100-degree days in one year: 0 in 1906
and 1973 Most consecutive 100-degree days:
42, from June 23-Aug. 3, 1980 High temperature: 113 degrees
on June 26 and 27, 1980** Low temperature: -8 on Feb.
12, 1899 Most rainfall in one year: 53.5
inches in 1991 Least rainfall in one year: 17.9
inches in 1921
** Twenty-nine daily records
were tied or broken during the summer of 1980Most
100-degree days in one year: 69 in 1980
PRECIPITOUS
The Dust Bowl days of the 1930s
produced one of the longest stretches of consecutive
days without measurable rain: 58 days from May 25
through July 21, 1934. And from Nov. 4 through Dec.
31, 1950, another 58-day dry spell was recorded.
But the record was set just three years ago, from
July 1 through Sept. 22, 2000, when the area went
84 days without rain.
If one of your friends tells
you he remembers the last white Christmas in the
area, he’d better be pushing 80. The last
measurable snowfall on Dec. 25 occurred in 1926,
when 2 inches were recorded. Tell that to your friends
up north!
Thanks to the wettest March on record —
7.39 inches of precipitation — last year’s
44.42 inches of rain made 2002 the 13th wettest
year on record.
