Texas Winter 2022-2023

[Yukon Cornelius]

Just when you’re really enjoying the cold air, warmth once again comes back. Currently 72 and windy

[Cpv17]

Just when you’re really enjoying the cold air, warmth once again comes back. Currently 72 and windy

Yeah the winds are crazy down here. Sustained about 20 out of the S gusting to 30. It doesn’t even really feel that warm down here with the winds blowing so strong.

[Texas Snowman]

1983 was something else for sure, but 2021 was similarly extreme here in Denison. I lived here for both freeze events and both were eerily similar. 1989 was no picnic, just shorter and intense.

From my notes on February 2021: “When the temperature rose above 32 degrees early yesterday afternoon here in Denison/Sherman (at North Texas Regional Airport), it capped the consecutive hours below freezing streak at 251 hours.

While that falls short of tying the record of 295 consecutive hours of sub freezing weather set in December 1983, it is the second longest such streak in local history.

According to KXII TV meteorologist Steve LaNore, the top duration freeze events here are:
1. December 1983 (13 days)
2. February 2021 (10 days)
3. January 1948 (8 days)
4. February 1905 (7 days)
5. January 1942 (6 days)

In addition to the runner-up streak of sub freezing weather, we set the all-time record low temperature mark for Denison and Sherman at -4 degrees, breaking the previous mark of -2 degrees set back in 1949 and 1989.

Alas, we got much less snow than others in Texas and Oklahoma, getting only 4-6 inches across Denison.”

[Cpv17]

1983 was something else for sure, but 2021 was similarly extreme here in Denison. I lived here for both freeze events and both were eerily similar. 1989 was no picnic, just shorter and intense.

From my notes on February 2021: “When the temperature rose above 32 degrees early yesterday afternoon here in Denison/Sherman (at North Texas Regional Airport), it capped the consecutive hours below freezing streak at 251 hours.

While that falls short of tying the record of 295 consecutive hours of sub freezing weather set in December 1983, it is the second longest such streak in local history.

According to KXII TV meteorologist Steve LaNore, the top duration freeze events here are:
1. December 1983 (13 days)
2. February 2021 (10 days)
3. January 1948 (8 days)
4. February 1905 (7 days)
5. January 1942 (6 days)

In addition to the runner-up streak of sub freezing weather, we set the all-time record low temperature mark for Denison and Sherman at -4 degrees, breaking the previous mark of -2 degrees set back in 1949 and 1989.

Alas, we got much less snow than others in Texas and Oklahoma, getting only 4-6 inches across Denison.”

Geez, 48 and 49 must have been some dang cold winters! Back to back on top of it.

You’d have to think 1895 and 1899 would be on this list too.

[richtrav]

1948, 1949 and 1951 all saw severe cold outbreaks in Texas at the end of January.

By the way does anyone know what the highest pressure recorded in the US last week was? I know most models were predicting something over 1060mb.

[Brent]

63 here on my phone and I still saw a patch of snow in the shade

Tulsa only had 1.2 inches and it made it this long

[CaptinCrunch]

I'm actually looking forward to a nice weekend, temp wise, and rain free. Since the beginning of November it seems every weekend was rainy and chilly, I haven't had a good weekend to get the firepit cranked up and just enjoy sitting around by the fire and relaxing. I will say I've put a dent in the cord of wood i purchased back in October, but still plenty to carry me through rest of winter.

[Cpv17]

We could have severe storms starting December 29th just east of most of Y'all, but early January may have to be watched towards here because there is a SE Ridge that is going to develop combined with troughs from the west. It all depends on the moisture return.

The severe weather threat has literally been in the same spot the past few events and this upcoming one doesn’t look any different..it’s just weird to me how it keeps setting up in the same areas.

[bubba hotep]

Finally back from my travels, belated Merry Christmas to everyone and an early Happy New Year as I hit the road again.

Spent Christmas up in Colorado, and I can confirm that the cold front was crazy! We got back to the cabin in the early evening, and it was 44F. Started unloading our groceries right as the front hit, wind was howling and blowing stuff off the deck. Temp dropped instantly, and when I went back out later to grab some beer it had dropped to 0F! Temps bottomed out at -18F two mornings in a row and we stayed below 0F over 40hrs. We also picked up about 4" of very dry powder.

[cheezyWXguy]

We could have severe storms starting December 29th just east of most of Y'all, but early January may have to be watched towards here because there is a SE Ridge that is going to develop combined with troughs from the west. It all depends on the moisture return.

The severe weather threat has literally been in the same spot the past few events and this upcoming one doesn’t look any different..it’s just weird to me how it keeps setting up in the same areas.

Yeah that is interesting, the conditions and timing depicted by the gfs across east Texas remind me of the event two week ago with the morning tornadoes. At this point (still long ways out), I could see jan 2 possibly playing out similarly, but the gfs shows a pretty stout cap that will hopefully prevent anything from becoming surface based across the area, since timing looks to again be the morning hours up to noon.

[Quixotic]

Looking at the SPC analogs, the 6-10 day has some promising years. 10-14 is more like a who’s who of years that shot their wad early. Sure it will change.

[Ralph's Weather]

2/21 is def king for NE TX. Bottomed out at -8 and had a combined 12"+ of snow. 83 wins duration for sure though. Last week was damaging in that there was no snow cover to insulate plants and houses and the wind exacerbated the issue. All very extreme events in different ways along with 89, 1899 and several others.
Heres to hoping for a day of 28 degrees and no wind with heavy snow here in a few weeks.

[somethingfunny]

I'm actually looking forward to a nice weekend, temp wise, and rain free. Since the beginning of November it seems every weekend was rainy and chilly, I haven't had a good weekend to get the firepit cranked up and just enjoy sitting around by the fire and relaxing. I will say I've put a dent in the cord of wood i purchased back in October, but still plenty to carry me through rest of winter.

Seriously, I haven't gotten any yardwork done since the leaves fell!

[JDawg512]

I am surprised that some here think 83 or 89 was worse than Feb 2021. All I can share is what happened here and the duration of the cold, the severity of the cold, and the frequency of wintry precip was off the scale. The associated failure of local infrastructure was also off the scale. Nothing I have experienced in my 38 years in Austin comes remotely close to how bad it was in Feb 21. Frankly, I hope to never go through that again.

On to our current weather ... I'm intrigued by the recent comments of Cosgrove and Bastardi about later in January.

1983 and 1989 definitely were colder and the cold lasted longer than 2021. We hit single digits in Houston in 1989 with highs in the 20s. In both 1983 and 1989, Houston was below freezing for 5 days. Interesting that both the 1983 and 1989 (and 2022) freezes came in the days leading up to Christmas. Lower graphic shows the records from 1983 and 1989. Note that I didn't update that graphic to include 2021, but we weren't nearly as cold. However, both were a relatively dry cold as compared to the icy 2021 event across Texas. Here's a map comparing coldest temps of the three freezes. The 2021 event was colder across NE TX in terms of coldest temperature reached. The graphic doesn't compare the length of time below freezing.

http://wxman57.com/images/cold.JPG

http://wxman57.com/images/ColdClimo.JPG

I think I'm terms of severity with snow/Ice Feb 2021 takes the cake for me. I'm from Austin born and raised and I have never experienced the kind of winter storm that we had. Maybe other parts of Texas didn't get hit quite as badly (though I know it was a large storm and covered most of the state).. but we had days of snow and ice on the ground. in my yard had an average of 6-7 inches of snow on the ground (measured multiple areas with a ruler, up to 9 inches in built up areas in the yard). As far as temps, it might have been colder this time but cold with no precipitation is still better than piles of snow and ice on the ground for days and I know we were below freezing longer than this time around as we were back above freezing by Christmas eve afternoon, only Friday was below freezing the entire day. I will also voice my opinion and say I hope we never go through what we did Feb 21 again!

[Iceresistance]

Slight risk for 1/2 now includes DFW and just to my east.

[Cpv17]

I am surprised that some here think 83 or 89 was worse than Feb 2021. All I can share is what happened here and the duration of the cold, the severity of the cold, and the frequency of wintry precip was off the scale. The associated failure of local infrastructure was also off the scale. Nothing I have experienced in my 38 years in Austin comes remotely close to how bad it was in Feb 21. Frankly, I hope to never go through that again.

On to our current weather ... I'm intrigued by the recent comments of Cosgrove and Bastardi about later in January.

1983 and 1989 definitely were colder and the cold lasted longer than 2021. We hit single digits in Houston in 1989 with highs in the 20s. In both 1983 and 1989, Houston was below freezing for 5 days. Interesting that both the 1983 and 1989 (and 2022) freezes came in the days leading up to Christmas. Lower graphic shows the records from 1983 and 1989. Note that I didn't update that graphic to include 2021, but we weren't nearly as cold. However, both were a relatively dry cold as compared to the icy 2021 event across Texas. Here's a map comparing coldest temps of the three freezes. The 2021 event was colder across NE TX in terms of coldest temperature reached. The graphic doesn't compare the length of time below freezing.

http://wxman57.com/images/cold.JPG

http://wxman57.com/images/ColdClimo.JPG

I think I'm terms of severity with snow/Ice Feb 2021 takes the cake for me. I'm from Austin born and raised and I have never experienced the kind of winter storm that we had. Maybe other parts of Texas didn't get hit quite as badly (though I know it was a large storm and covered most of the state).. but we had days of snow and ice on the ground. in my yard had an average of 6-7 inches of snow on the ground (measured multiple areas with a ruler, up to 9 inches in built up areas in the yard). As far as temps, it might have been colder this time but cold with no precipitation is still better than piles of snow and ice on the ground for days and I know we were below freezing longer than this time around as we were back above freezing by Christmas eve afternoon, only Friday was below freezing the entire day. I will also voice my opinion and say I hope we never go through what we did Feb 21 again!

We will agree to disagree but I’ll take snow over dry cold any damn day lol

Feb 21 was kinda weak sauce for my area compared to other parts of the state. We bottomed out at 14°F and had more ice than we did snow. We may have gotten a half inch to one inch of snow at best. And I’ll gladly take a repeat of it but this time I want a lot more snow and for the grid to handle it better and way less damage than last time. I want my weather extremes! It consumes me and I can’t help it

I never want to see damage or people getting hurt or killed. Just wish we could experience Mother Nature’s fury without all of that crap! I do believe though that we would be much better off and more prepared for it now though compared to then.

[Cpv17]

Slight risk for 1/2 now includes DFW and just to my east.

Yeah it shifted west from yesterday. Looks like it shifted slightly north too.

[Portastorm]

1948, 1949 and 1951 all saw severe cold outbreaks in Texas at the end of January.

By the way does anyone know what the highest pressure recorded in the US last week was? I know most models were predicting something over 1060mb.

Good question! I went back and looked at the maps per the WPC and the highest pressure I found was 1056mb on 12/22/22 (15z) as high pressure was coming into Montana.

[Ntxw]

Cedar Fever. It is coming ugh...warm air from the south will make it miserable for those who suffer in NTX, like myself.

[Portastorm]

Cedar Fever. It is coming ugh...warm air from the south will make it miserable for those who suffer in NTX, like myself.

Yeah numbers going up here too. While the weather this weekend will be nice (sunny and 70s), with that pattern and south winds ... I expect cedar counts to rapidly increase. Ugh.