The first half of fall in Dallas was warmer than normal, with 2025 breaking a record for the latest arrival of overnight lows in the 50s.<\/p>\n
And it\u2019s not just this year that\u2019s taken ages to cool down. Since 1970, the first freeze has occurred later in 88% of U.S. cities, according to a report released this fall by Climate Central. Across the country, the arrival of 32 degrees has come an average of 12 days later, though the trends in Texas look a little different.<\/p>\n
While El Paso\u2019s average first freeze is an average of 20 days later than it was in 1970, the change is a lot smaller in most other Texas cities that were studied. For Dallas-Fort Worth, the first freeze has only shifted three days later.<\/p>\n
Several cities \u2014 including Wichita Falls, Lubbock, Abilene and Odessa \u2014 saw almost no change. Waco even had its first freeze arrive an average of 11 days sooner, according to the report.<\/p>\n
D-FW Weather Wise<\/p>\n
John Nielsen-Gammon, Texas\u2019 state climatologist based at Texas A&M, said that when the timing of one specific indicator is singled out, it can lose the context of broader climate patterns across the state. He said the lack of a clear trend in Texas could be due to the natural variability of weather patterns.<\/p>\n
\u201c[Looking at] what the average temperatures have done in the fall in Texas, it turns out those have increased over the last 50 or so years at about the same rate as in other seasons,\u201d Nielsen-Gammon said. \u201cYou really have to look at things in the big picture to see what\u2019s happening in terms of climate change.\u201d<\/p>\n
An assessment of Texas weather trends, produced last year by Nielsen-Gammon\u2019s office, indicates that average temperatures have been rising for all regions of Texas. The rate of increase also appears to be speeding up, over half a degree per decade since 1975.<\/p>\n
With so many cities nationally experiencing later first freezes, it could seem odd that so many of the unaffected cities are in Texas. But Nielsen-Gammon said this isn\u2019t particularly surprising, as big weather events often happen to more than one area of the state.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf Dallas gets a cold front, then probably Tyler and Austin get the same cold front,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
While we don\u2019t know exactly when the first freeze will arrive to Dallas-Fort Worth this year, the average date in recent years has been Nov. 23.<\/p>\n
In conclusion, the delayed arrival of winter in Dallas is part of a larger national trend of later first freezes. However, Texas trends are more complex, with some cities experiencing little to no change in the timing of their first freeze. Understanding these broader climate patterns is crucial for predicting and preparing for weather events in the state.<\/p>\n
A: The average date of the first freeze in Dallas-Fort Worth is Nov. 23.<\/p>\n
A: Yes, average temperatures have been rising for all regions of Texas, with the rate of increase speeding up over half a degree per decade since 1975.<\/p>\n
A: The lack of a clear trend in Texas could be due to the natural variability of weather patterns, and big weather events often happen to more than one area of the state.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Understanding the Delayed Arrival of Winter in Dallas The first half of fall in Dallas was warmer than normal, with 2025 breaking a record for the latest arrival of overnight lows in the 50s. And it\u2019s not just this year that\u2019s taken ages to cool down. Since 1970, the first freeze has occurred later in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":16157,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-16155","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-weather"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/dmn-dallas-news-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com\/resizer\/v2\/CUHD72CPT5DFTCL2IXCQE54FSY.jpg?auth=935681205e9da3537356232e7087d0f940eb0ca22ae6c3e8da6dea77e76271f9&quality=80&width=1200&height=630&smart=true","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16155"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16155"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16155\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16158,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16155\/revisions\/16158"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}