Extreme Temps in Texas

[happ]

A few days ago a snowstorm in the Great Plains clipped the Texas panhandle and dropped the temperature to 11F in Amarillo. On the same day it was 101F in Brownsville, Texas near the Mexican border. This is, of-course, rather extraordinary and characteristic of spring volatility but an interesting display of radically different weather conditions within Texas

[epicure3]

Crazy, isn't it? Texas, it's like a whole different country.

[happ]

Crazy, isn't it? Texas, it's like a whole different country.

What's remarkable is that the 90 degree spread in temperatures wasn't due to mountains\ elevation.

[NBTX11]

This is very common during the winter in TX due to the extreme distance from North to South. That's why you can't make any generalizations about TX weather, there are too many variables. A 40-50F spread in winter is actually fairly common in winter. Amarillo gets lots of teens F, and even single digits F for lows. At the same time the RGV can be hot an humid, highs in 80s mid winter.

[war_eagle]

Just to give you an idea of how extreme the distance is, Brownsville and Amarillo are FARTHER apart than Miami, FL and Charlotte, NC. And as far as east-west is concerned, El Paso is closer to Los Angeles than it is to the Texas/Louisiana border.