Texas, our Texas... Change is thy name! ... when it comes to weather...
estelyn_strider posted a few days ago about seasons, and it got me thinking. What consitute seasons? Is it just a big enough annual temperature swing? Or is it having four mostly-distinct seasons? Because my corner of Texas certainly qualifies as having seasons for the first, but not for the second. Unless the accepted measure of "spring" and "fall" are different than mine. Ironically, for all my tolerance of heat, I have a very narrow comfortable range; there are very few spring and fall days that satisfy me.
With the exception of summer (uniformly HOT and nearly dry), North Texas' typical weather pattern is... atypical. Meaning it changes, all the time. Change is constant, and that's what's typical.
This fall was overall quite warm. We'd have a cool front drop us into the 60s; then we'd warm back into the upper 80s. Well into October. The pattern continued through November, with the mid- to upper-70s. But there was never any string of days which I could point to and say, "This is fall!" Unless that pattern of cold front and warming trend is to be considered fall. Usually the cold is a little colder, and the warming trends a little shorter. That made it a warm fall.
Even when I was little, I longed for spring and summer to come and stay. Just as we'd warm up, another cold front would come in and drop us back down to chilly temps. I remember thinking that if only the cold fronts would stop, our daytime highs in the winter would probably be in the mid-60s. It's just that warm down here.
The funny thing is that it does get cold here, and it doesn't mess around when it does. The fronts get stronger and colder, and the warm air masses can't push them off as quickly. Since Thanksgiving it's definitely been winter around here; our first freeze was I think back in October, around the average date, but we didn't have another until then. Since then it's held on. Cold and very, very windy. Strong south winds, switching to strong north winds when the front comes; then switching around to the south again as the front moves off.*
It was nearly 80 Sunday when we got back from Fort Washita. That night during the Cowboy game - third quarter - another front blew in. The temperature dropped into the 30s in a few hours and stayed there. It was about 29 all day yesterday, with the wind moderate but still gusting to 25 mph. Last night it dropped again, to 26 or 25. That's a respectable hard freeze, especially for December. What's unusual is that it's been 26 or 27 degrees all day here - with no wind. Never fear, though. We'll be in the 70s Friday and Saturday....
... just in time to have a high of 38 on Sunday, and a low of 21 that night. Wow.
I contend that unless you're from the Arctic Circle or Montana and your frame of reference is that seriously skewed, this is truly winter weather. My mother points out, with some validity, that there's nothing between Texas and the Arctic but a few barbed-wire fences.
For what it's worth, the official highest temperature for this year was 107, early in August. The overall record is 113.
* I need to take a picture of the big light that broke in the wind about a month ago. It's one of those huge 70-odd-feet-tall contraptions at at freeway interchange; you know, the ones that look like a respectably-sized flying saucers with lights all around, stuck on poles. Well, a cable on one of them must have snapped in the wind, because the whole saucer is distinctly listing, its lights going off at an angle instead of down. This morning I noticed that the saucer swung around sometime in the last few days, since it's down angled in a different direction. I've seen regular daytime winds blow out signs, blow off roofs, and blow down fences, but crippling an interstate light? Cool!
With the exception of summer (uniformly HOT and nearly dry), North Texas' typical weather pattern is... atypical. Meaning it changes, all the time. Change is constant, and that's what's typical.
This fall was overall quite warm. We'd have a cool front drop us into the 60s; then we'd warm back into the upper 80s. Well into October. The pattern continued through November, with the mid- to upper-70s. But there was never any string of days which I could point to and say, "This is fall!" Unless that pattern of cold front and warming trend is to be considered fall. Usually the cold is a little colder, and the warming trends a little shorter. That made it a warm fall.
Even when I was little, I longed for spring and summer to come and stay. Just as we'd warm up, another cold front would come in and drop us back down to chilly temps. I remember thinking that if only the cold fronts would stop, our daytime highs in the winter would probably be in the mid-60s. It's just that warm down here.
The funny thing is that it does get cold here, and it doesn't mess around when it does. The fronts get stronger and colder, and the warm air masses can't push them off as quickly. Since Thanksgiving it's definitely been winter around here; our first freeze was I think back in October, around the average date, but we didn't have another until then. Since then it's held on. Cold and very, very windy. Strong south winds, switching to strong north winds when the front comes; then switching around to the south again as the front moves off.*
It was nearly 80 Sunday when we got back from Fort Washita. That night during the Cowboy game - third quarter - another front blew in. The temperature dropped into the 30s in a few hours and stayed there. It was about 29 all day yesterday, with the wind moderate but still gusting to 25 mph. Last night it dropped again, to 26 or 25. That's a respectable hard freeze, especially for December. What's unusual is that it's been 26 or 27 degrees all day here - with no wind. Never fear, though. We'll be in the 70s Friday and Saturday....
... just in time to have a high of 38 on Sunday, and a low of 21 that night. Wow.
I contend that unless you're from the Arctic Circle or Montana and your frame of reference is that seriously skewed, this is truly winter weather. My mother points out, with some validity, that there's nothing between Texas and the Arctic but a few barbed-wire fences.
For what it's worth, the official highest temperature for this year was 107, early in August. The overall record is 113.
* I need to take a picture of the big light that broke in the wind about a month ago. It's one of those huge 70-odd-feet-tall contraptions at at freeway interchange; you know, the ones that look like a respectably-sized flying saucers with lights all around, stuck on poles. Well, a cable on one of them must have snapped in the wind, because the whole saucer is distinctly listing, its lights going off at an angle instead of down. This morning I noticed that the saucer swung around sometime in the last few days, since it's down angled in a different direction. I've seen regular daytime winds blow out signs, blow off roofs, and blow down fences, but crippling an interstate light? Cool!