Year round weather/climate in Dallas (Fort Worth, Denton: mover, tornado, moving to)

[FutureMover08]

I often hear people describe the weather/climate in the DFW area as being really bad, terrible, unbearable, too humid, etc. Yes the summers are very hot and uncomfortable... We all know that. But the rest of the year, is the weather really THAT bad? I know spring time can get rain and thunderstorms. Fall seems pretty nice and the winters seem mild and it looks like there are several days each month during the winter time where it will get up into the 60s or 70s and rarely 80s for the high.

Is it as bad as some people describe it?

[BstYet2Be]

Originally Posted by FutureMover08

Is it as bad as some people describe it?

It seems it is to them... but definitely NOT to all of us!

[FutureMover08]

Originally Posted by new2sa

It seems it is to them... but definitely NOT to all of us!

Do you think a lot of the people who will say stuff like that are outsiders who don't know what they are talking about and just have a negative image of Dallas and/or Texas?

I am thinking about eventually moving to Dallas from Louisville. My hope is that Dallas's climate is better than here. I am not very big fan of cold weather (basically below 40) so Dallas will be a big improvement there. It is also cloudy all of the time here (like the grey gloomy overcast type of clouds... I don't mind the poofy white ones when it's still sunny out) and I am hoping that Dallas will have significantly more sunny days.

[YeahRight]

Originally Posted by FutureMover08

Do you think a lot of the people who will say stuff like that are outsiders who don't know what they are talking about and just have a negative image of Dallas and/or Texas?

I am thinking about eventually moving to Dallas from Louisville. My hope is that Dallas's climate is better than here. I am not very big fan of cold weather (basically below 40) so Dallas will be a big improvement there. It is also cloudy all of the time here and I am hoping that Dallas will have significantly more sunny days.

You will get more sun here for sure. I can remember when I moved here from Seattle, Big difference! Would you believe the sun actually hurt my eyes? I had to walk around like this . I finally got use to it, but yeah Dallas is sunny.

[FutureMover08]

Originally Posted by YeahRight

You will get more sun here for sure. I can remember when I moved here from Seattle, Big difference! Would you believe the sun actually hurt my eyes? I had to walk around like this . I finally got use to it, but yeah Dallas is sunny.

Good to hear. I'm not necessarily looking for 300 sunny days a year (i.e. Phoenix or Southern California) but I am looking for more sunny days than cloudy days. Around here it's usually cloudy literally almost every day during the winter. Before yesterday, I hadn't seen the sun in literally a week or more.

[JasonDFW]

Generally gloomy gray days are related to rain. The wettest (by chance of rain) month in DFW is the period from mid April to mid May. This is the only "month" in DFW which is more rainy than the driest period of the year in Louisville. So, I think you'll be happy.

I moved here from Wisconsin partially to avoid the gray there, and in my case the wettest period of the year here is drier than the driest period of the year there. Last time someone asked a question about big white poofy clouds I posted the pic at the bottom of this post.

One thing that helps here, is the coldest Month of the year here, January, is the driest month of the year. Rain in the winter is most likely to be viewed as gloomy weather IMO. Not many people complain about gloomy weather in August if it rains, which is too bad because August is the second driest and hottest month.

One thing possibly of interest is that the DFW area climate isn't the same all over. There are two ways in which the weather varies over distance, which might not be obvious since there are no obvious geographic features (like mountains) to vary the climate.

The first is that urban Dallas is in a heat island. This means that winter lows are much warmer than the suburbs, but also that summer lows are as well. On nights with freezes this winter Dallas can be 10° warmer than Denton for instance.

The second is that the rainfall varies considerably from east to west. Basically, you go west of Fort Worth and you run into a desert, you go east of Dallas you run into lush piney woods (think Louisiana). This is because the rainfall varies so much from east to west. Because of that, if you wanted to be even sunnier, go west further. Here's a graphical illustration of the yearly precip from the NWS:

http://www.projectrun.com/rainfall.gif

http://www.projectrun.com/examplepics/kwikemart.jpg

[Canine*Castle]

Dallas' average is 234 sunny days a year and Louisville's is 193. Dallas' weather is ideal for about 7 months of the year. You just can't beat it.

[FarNorthDallas]

I've only heard people complain about the heat of summer, but not so much the rest of the year. If you are a snow person, then you're out of luck. We don't get much. Fall is nice, but the leaves really only turn over a few days around Thanksgiving. Spring has the great storms. They're cool. We don't get much rain generally speaking, some, not a lot.

[portyhead24]

Also the weather is erratic and VERY unpredictible. Just this past Saturday I was at Six Flags enjoying 80 degree weather. Last night (Monday) it was cold and SNOWING! Tomorrow, we'll probably be back up to the 70's. Maybe a tornado will pass through this weekend (hehe probably not but here you never know.)

[rb4browns]

Originally Posted by FutureMover08

I often hear people describe the weather/climate in the DFW area as being really bad, terrible, unbearable, too humid, etc. Yes the summers are very hot and uncomfortable... We all know that. But the rest of the year, is the weather really THAT bad? I know spring time can get rain and thunderstorms. Fall seems pretty nice and the winters seem mild and it looks like there are several days each month during the winter time where it will get up into the 60s or 70s and rarely 80s for the high.

Is it as bad as some people describe it?

I have found the winter here to be wonderful. Crisp days and chilly nights. Last night was the first snow I saw this year and it was only about 1/2 inch. Fall was very nice, warm days and comfortable evenings. The rain here is no big deal because when it rains it RAINS and then it's over.