Why is the Dallas area peculiarly warm?

[Sabal_Louisiana]

You folks living in Texas might know. Dallas/Ft Worth is about midway between Oklahoma City and Austin/San Antonio.

Yet it seems that during the colder half of the year Dallas is often much milder than OKC and only slightly coller than Austin or even San Antonio.

In January, Okla City av high is only around 50 but 58 at DFW (av 2000-2018) and low 60s for the latter.

Since 2000 Oklahoma City has dropped below zeroF a few times (-5 in 2011) as low as 16 at San Antonio but no lower than 13 at DFW. Amazing.

I know urban heat island definitely comes into play but there must be more to it. 

Similarly, Shreveport, LA (same lat as Dallas) seems to be much milder than Little Rock (35N) and not that much colder than Beaumont or Lake CharLes (30N).

 

[Austinpalm]

I cannot speak to all of the comparable cities you mentioned, but I do know that where the official temperature for Austin is now taken (Austin - Bergstrom Airport) is in or very near a drainage that is near or at the lowest elevation within the city limits.  Coupled with the fact that the airport is on the eastern edge of town and not really within the urban heat island, temps reported there are going to be lower than what would be reported in many other parts of town.  I'm not sure where Dallas' official temp is acquired, but possibly it is located in a warmer part of town than might be truly reflective of local temps.

 

[pin38]

10 hours ago, Sabal_Louisiana said:

You folks living in Texas might know. Dallas/Ft Worth is about midway between Oklahoma City and Austin/San Antonio.

Yet it seems that during the colder half of the year Dallas is often much milder than OKC and only slightly coller than Austin or even San Antonio.

In January, Okla City av high is only around 50 but 58 at DFW (av 2000-2018) and low 60s for the latter.

Since 2000 Oklahoma City has dropped below zeroF a few times (-5 in 2011) as low as 16 at San Antonio but no lower than 13 at DFW. Amazing.

I know urban heat island definitely comes into play but there must be more to it. 

Similarly, Shreveport, LA (same lat as Dallas) seems to be much milder than Little Rock (35N) and not that much colder than Beaumont or Lake CharLes (30N).

 

I believe that the relationship between latitude and winter temps isn't linear, and is in fact most pronounced/strongest at the mid latitudes (~45 degrees). Higher and lower than that, the correlation lessens (though it always is a factor, obviously). Think of the correlation like a sine graph. The equator and North pole are the bottom and the  top of the graph, respectively. A real-world example: once you get into the tropics (23 degrees) the average temp variation between 3 degrees of latitude is relatively miniscule, for a given elevation. Same with different locations in the Arctic circle (again, for a given elevation and proximity to coast/current). For latitudes in-between, there continues to be a gradiant in the correlation, which peaks (or at least is centered) at around 45 degrees in latitude. Since Dallas and San Antonio are at lower latitudes than most of the lower 48 states, they're going to have less difference than most other 2 American cities separated by 3 degrees of latitude in the plains. 32 degrees in latitude is pretty far south, so I believe you really start to notice that effect south of Dallas and Shreveport. Add to that the effects of a major urban heat island from a metro of over 6 million people, and bam: the Dallas phenomenon.

Edited August 17, 2018 by pin38

[TexasColdHardyPalms]

There are two temperature stations DFW airport is the main one and the other is Love Field.  Love Field is much warmer than DFW and is a true 8B area.

The 7.4 million people (fourth most populated metro area in the US, yes Houston folks that is correct; look it up) certainly helps quite a bit and the heat maps during this brutal winter really showed just how powerful the heat zone has become.  Many areas 75-100 miles South and East were much colder than the Urban core. All of this helps but the phenomenon you are looking at is the proximity of Dallas and Shreveport to the "Armpit" of the Gulf.  This Moderation basically stops north and West in Dallas/Ft.Worth and extends all the way over to Shreveport before it starts to migrate South.  This moderation is why I believe the furthest inland populations of Sabal Minor reside in Downtown Dallas up to Oklahoma/Texarkana/North LA.  

[NC_Palms]

On 8/17/2018, 9:46:08, TexasColdHardyPalms said:

There are two temperature stations DFW airport is the main one and the other is Love Field.  Love Field is much warmer than DFW and is a true 8B area.

The 7.4 million people (fourth most populated metro area in the US, yes Houston folks that is correct; look it up) certainly helps quite a bit and the heat maps during this brutal winter really showed just how powerful the heat zone has become.  Many areas 75-100 miles South and East were much colder than the Urban core. All of this helps but the phenomenon you are looking at is the proximity of Dallas and Shreveport to the "Armpit" of the Gulf.  This Moderation basically stops north and West in Dallas/Ft.Worth and extends all the way over to Shreveport before it starts to migrate South.  This moderation is why I believe the furthest inland populations of Sabal Minor reside in Downtown Dallas up to Oklahoma/Texarkana/North LA.  

Wouldn't this moderation extend further north of Shreveport into Arkansas? 

[GottmitAlex]

We're practically in the same latitude. However it's remarkable that Dallas is a zone 8a. 

[AnTonY]

On 8/17/2018, 8:46:08, TexasColdHardyPalms said:

There are two temperature stations DFW airport is the main one and the other is Love Field.  Love Field is much warmer than DFW and is a true 8B area.

The 7.4 million people (fourth most populated metro area in the US, yes Houston folks that is correct; look it up) certainly helps quite a bit and the heat maps during this brutal winter really showed just how powerful the heat zone has become.  Many areas 75-100 miles South and East were much colder than the Urban core. All of this helps but the phenomenon you are looking at is the proximity of Dallas and Shreveport to the "Armpit" of the Gulf.  This Moderation basically stops north and West in Dallas/Ft.Worth and extends all the way over to Shreveport before it starts to migrate South.  This moderation is why I believe the furthest inland populations of Sabal Minor reside in Downtown Dallas up to Oklahoma/Texarkana/North LA.  

4th is city limit population for Houston, and metro area population for DFW, yes.

[DreaminAboutPalms]

Dallas area is only peculiarly warm in terms of yearly minimum temp, mostly because of heat island effect. 

after living in DFW for 4 years, then Austin for 3, and now DFW again for past 3 months I have noticed, especially in spring and fall that a lot of the cold fronts that hit Dallas miss Austin completely. Late winter especially It will be 39 degrees and raining in Dallas and 75 and sunny in Austin. Today as I type this it is 62 in Dallas and 81 in Austin. Dallas always gets a few extra cold fronts in winter weeks later than the last one in Austin. And if you 

If you were to compare Dallas to Austin during winter, Dallas min temp is only a few degrees colder but Austin gets significantly more days above 70 and less freezes. I think in Austin there were only a dozen days where high temp was below 50 this year.

once you get north of DFW avg low temps  drop quickly. An hour north January low temps are like 29

 

Edited May 3, 2022 by DreaminAboutPalms

[Little Tex]

On 8/17/2018 at 8:46 AM, TexasColdHardyPalms said:

fourth most populated metro area in the US, yes Houston folks that is correct; look it up

just the metro...  but hey i'm not gonna complain about the zone

[KsLouisiana]

On 8/17/2018 at 8:46 AM, TexasColdHardyPalms said:

There are two temperature stations DFW airport is the main one and the other is Love Field.  Love Field is much warmer than DFW and is a true 8B area.

The 7.4 million people (fourth most populated metro area in the US, yes Houston folks that is correct; look it up) certainly helps quite a bit and the heat maps during this brutal winter really showed just how powerful the heat zone has become.  Many areas 75-100 miles South and East were much colder than the Urban core. All of this helps but the phenomenon you are looking at is the proximity of Dallas and Shreveport to the "Armpit" of the Gulf.  This Moderation basically stops north and West in Dallas/Ft.Worth and extends all the way over to Shreveport before it starts to migrate South.  This moderation is why I believe the furthest inland populations of Sabal Minor reside in Downtown Dallas up to Oklahoma/Texarkana/North LA.  

I lived in Fort worth for 10 years and Lake Charles for ten years. The climates could not be more different. It's so much colder in North Texas. I can't disagree with this thread any more.

[Collectorpalms]

9 hours ago, KsLouisiana said:

I lived in Fort worth for 10 years and Lake Charles for ten years. The climates could not be more different. It's so much colder in North Texas. I can't disagree with this thread any more.

So which you rather...? They both have disadvantages. Also, FT Worth is still yet colder that Dallas in winter. You like all those Hurricanes? or trade for Tornadoes?

After looking at your new House, in Lake Charles, If tropical look is your thing, your in the jungle now! Just prepared for a 1989 event, that is overdue for the Gulf Coast, east of Houston.

Edited May 20, 2022 by Collectorpalms

[KsLouisiana]

7 minutes ago, Collectorpalms said:

So which you rather...? They both have disadvantages. Also, FT Worth is still yet colder that Dallas in winter. You like all those Hurricanes? or trade for Tornadoes?

I like the weather down here better. I love the summer storms and the winters are alot warmer. it's way more green. The hurricanes suck. Laura really destroyed the town and I was never really affected by a tornado. We lost our roof in Laura but what really sucked was losing all the trees. But they're all growing back pretty nicely. 

[Htown Palms]

I will take a hurricane every 10-15 years over tornadoes for sure. I've been up in Dallas during nasty thunderstorms when those sirens are going off. Freaked me out!

I also have to agree with the statement that north Texas gets more cold fronts. There are plenty of fronts that stall out before getting to central Texas. I see it happen numerous times a year. For example I was in Ft Worth 3 weeks ago for a wedding.  Were talking mid May. On Friday it was 100. A cold front came in Saturday and the high Sunday was in the 50s! The front stalled out just north of Houston so back home we got rain but not the late season cool air. That being said in Houston we get a lot of fronts that stall before making it to Corpus Christi or the valley. 

[JLM]

On 6/12/2022 at 4:27 PM, Htown Palms said:

I will take a hurricane every 10-15 years over tornadoes for sure. I've been up in Dallas during nasty thunderstorms when those sirens are going off. Freaked me out!

I also have to agree with the statement that north Texas gets more cold fronts. There are plenty of fronts that stall out before getting to central Texas. I see it happen numerous times a year. For example I was in Ft Worth 3 weeks ago for a wedding.  Were talking mid May. On Friday it was 100. A cold front came in Saturday and the high Sunday was in the 50s! The front stalled out just north of Houston so back home we got rain but not the late season cool air. That being said in Houston we get a lot of fronts that stall before making it to Corpus Christi or the valley. 

Well anybody in Louisiana is probably sick and tired of the hurricanes. Louisiana has had 3 major hurricanes (Category 3+), 2 hurricanes (Category 1-2), and 2 tropical storms make landfall in the state since 2019. In total thats 7 storms, and this is only direct landfalls, not impacts from landfalling storms in neighboring states. Hurricanes Laura 2020 and Ida 2021 were at Category 4 status at landfall, Hurricane Zeta 2020 was a Category 3. Hurricane Delta 2020 was a Category 2 and Hurricane Barry 2019 was a Category 1 , and then you had Tropical Storm Cristobal 2020 make landfall as a moderate tropical storm along with Tropical Storm Claudette 2021 that developed into a minimal storm over the marshes. Hurricane Marco 2020 neared the coast as a tropical storm but never made landfall, but luckily Marco was just a breezy day for them. Hurricane Sally 2020 brought squally conditions to portions of southeast Louisiana, Sally made landfall in Alabama. Hurricane Nicholas 2021 brought rain and wind to the state, but as im sure you know, Nicholas made landfall in Texas. This number also doesnt include the remnants of storms that moved over the state in 2019.

I know this has absolutely nothing to do with the conversation here, but you wont necessarily get a 10-15 year break between hurricanes. This year, sea surface temperatures are really warm and these high SSTs are widespread, anything that gets in the Gulf this season could quite possibly explode if the conditions are right.