North Texas weather was cooler and wetter than normal in January, and we got to enjoy a couple of snow days!
The first week of January was delightful. The warmest temperature in January was 67 on January 5th and again on the 30th. The coldest day was 16 on January 11th. The first month of 2025 produced 10 days at or above 60 degrees and 6 days with highs in the 30’s. Twenty nights were in the teens and 20’s. The overall average temperature of Denton County in January was 40, four degrees cooler than normal.
Measurable precipitation occurred on only four days; 1.1” fell on January 9th and 10th, much of it as snow. The highest snowfall total in Denton County was likely 4.7” in Northlake. On January 29th & 30th, a slow-moving storm system, cut off from the subtropical Pacific jet, brought persistent multi-inch rain storms to North Texas. The late January storms produced another 1.6 inches. Total precipitation for the month was a helpful 2.6” which was .7” above January’s normal rainfall of 1.9 inches. Officially, there were no reports of severe weather in Denton County.
Looking ahead, despite Punxsutawney Phil’s prognostication of six more weeks of winter, there are no significant trends other than slightly warmer and drier than normal. February has normal highs near 60 and lows of around 36. Normal precipitation during February is 2.5 inches, half an inch wetter than January. More snow?
A word about the deadly wildfires in Southern California: The “Great Basin,” encompasses the lower flatlands between the California Sierras and the Colorado Rockies, (mostly Nevada). In fall and winter, cold, dry air from Alaska and western Canada gathers in the Great Basin. Whenever a low-pressure system approaches the Pacific coast, it draws air from the Rockies across California. As cold, dry air flows downslope toward low pressure, the air compresses and heats up at a rate of 3 degrees for every thousand feet. In extreme events, Santa Ana winds can reach 80-100 mph at temperatures above 90. No one can stop them, only adapt to them. Clearing dry brush in the forests, scraping out wide fire-breaks, storing snow-melt water in man-made reservoirs all would help, if citizens demanded it. When sensible, realistic environmental practices begin to value human life and property over smelt or the snail darter, we can prevent or at least minimize such disasters. It’s much easier to prevent wildfires than to put them out.