The weather moving from fall into winter has been unseasonably mild, but North Texas is bracing for a blast of Arctic air before mid-January.
The warmest reading in December was 78 on the 16th, while the coldest was 23 on the 21st. The average high of 61 was 2 degrees warmer than normal, while the average low of 35.8 was only slightly warmer than the norm of 35.1. Overnight lows were in the 20’s at least 7 nights. Through the 28th, rainfall was 2.8” which was a quarter-inch above normal for the month. The two biggest rainfalls were .99” on the 24th and another .85” on the 26th. As of press time, Denton Enterprise has recorded 38.7 inches of rain, nearly 3.5” above Denton’s average annual rainfall.
Three fast-moving Pacific storm systems dropped severe storms and heavy rains on North Texas on both sides of the Christmas holiday. A third outbreak of flooding rains hit mainly south of Denton County on the 28th. It was the opening act of major severe weather outbreak which produced a tornadic supercell from Alvin across Galveston Bay into Port Arthur, a damage path of 120 miles.
Forecast models are predicting an Arctic airmass could reach North Texas around the second week of January with potential teens and 20’s for overnight lows.
Some weather highlights of 2024:
The temperature plunged from 60 on January 13th to 19 the next morning and an overnight low of 11 at Denton Enterprise the morning of January 14th.
North Texas all but entered spring on February 1st with a high of 71 degrees.
March 14th was the evening Roanoke, Lantana and other locales in Denton and Tarrant Counties were pounded by 3-inch hail.
April storms seemed to take aim on Denton County when baseball hail hit Rhome, Justin and other targets in western Denton County on April 1st.
In early June, 60 mph winds raked across the area downing trees and fences.
The deadliest tornado outbreak in Texas was Memorial Day weekend, when a massive supercell covering 900 square miles killed 7 and injured over 100 in rural Cooke County around Valley View and crossed into northern Denton County. The EF-2 storm lifted near Pilot Point, but produced winds near 165 mph in Celina.
It’s a reminder that severe, life-threatening storms can occur at any time in North Texas. Weather apps are fine, but the only sure way of hearing tornado, severe thunderstorm or flash flood warnings is via live local radio, not satellite radio or your Spotify playlist. WBAP 820AM/93.3 FM and 570 KLIF/96.3 KSCS-HD2 broadcast all warnings for 13 counties in North Texas.
If Santa didn’t bring you a NOAA Weather-Alert Radio, go buy one yourself today.
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