Has this December/ January been unseasonably warm? (Houston, Austin: spring break, apartments)

[Need4Camaro]

It just seems a bit warm for the winter. Is this normal?

[atxcio]

Yes, it feels like that to me too. Of course, it isn’t over. And there isn’t really a “normal” winter here.

[cBach]

Not abnormal but not typical. I remember: Thanksgiving with 87 degrees, Christmas with 80 degrees, and New Year's with 82 degrees. I also remember: ice at Thanksgiving, snow at Christmas in Houston, and single digit temps in early February.

What was unusual was that cold front in October/November was what we normally get in December/January.

Normally it's well into the mid 80's until Halloween and then the first cold front hits in November but it's in the 70's.

December/January usually features overcast and cool weather, alternatively with sunny and mild, with occasional deep freezes mixed in. There is ALWAYS the possibility of warmth if the wind is from the Gulf like it is today. There is ALWAYS the possibility of cold weather as well, until early April. Not probable, but possible. I remember rainy and 35 degree weather one Spring Break. I was on an open air train as I booked it when the forecast called for temps in the 80's but they mispredicted. I literally froze.

This week is warm but 40's and 50's all next week. That's the way it is.

One bad sign that troubles me most is that we only have 1" of rain this month. We typically should have a lot more. Some January's have had 10" of rain. No winter rain means fewer wildflowers. Low winter rain usually means drier than normal spring. If we don't moisten up the ground then that means we could be heading into drought conditions in summer. Believe me, you DON'T want to experience that. During drought conditions it was 100 starting in May and didn't let up until October.

So here's hoping to some more rain so we don't enter drought conditions.

[centralaustinite]

30 years in Austin. October was really weird!



Austin has always had variable winter weather but what seems strange is the whipsaw effect we seem to be getting -- the hottest ever ACL one week, the coldest the next. Freezes before Halloween, then 85.



December can be one of the most consistently beautiful months we have, cool mornings, warm afternoons, clear blue skies, flowers blooming etc. This year and last year we didn't really have that.

[TexasHorseLady]

My first winter in Austin, the weekend I met my husband (December 1969), we went walking in the snow. A week later, we went hiking up Barton Creek (WAY before there were apartments and such looming over it) and it was in the high 80's/low 90's. I figured out pretty quickly that "abnormal" weather in Austin is normal weather FOR Austin.

[Westerner92]

December 2019 Observed/Normal/Departure from Normal
High: 68.0/63.8/4.2
Low: 37.2/37.2/0.0

January 2020 Observed/Normal/Departure from Normal
High: 68.9/62.0/6.9
Low: 40.9/35.9/5.0

https://w2.weather.gov/climate/index.php?wfo=ewx

[ScoPro]

I once did some water-skiing on Lake Austin in January during the early 1960s

[Taynxtlvl]

Originally Posted by cBach

One bad sign that troubles me most is that we only have 1" of rain this month. We typically should have a lot more. Some January's have had 10" of rain. No winter rain means fewer wildflowers. Low winter rain usually means drier than normal spring. If we don't moisten up the ground then that means we could be heading into drought conditions in summer. Believe me, you DON'T want to experience that. During drought conditions it was 100 starting in May and didn't let up until October.

So here's hoping to some more rain so we don't enter drought conditions.

January in Texas gives the perception of rain but really it's not that wet with an average January total of approximately two inches. More often than not January will be mist or drizzle and overcast. Giving us the thought that we'll get some good downpours but then we really don't get them. It gets progressively wetter into the spring reaching a maximum during "Storm season" in May and early June with 4 or 5 inches each of those months. To be certain last fall was drier than normal especially after the record hot September and October.



Source..... https://www.rssweather.com/climate/Texas/Austin%20City/

[weathernerd]

The weather at Austin Camp-Mabry (KATT) is much more representative of conditions in most of the city than the weather at the airport.

In December 2019 at KATT:
(1) Average temperature was 55.8°, which was 3.3° above normal. December 2019 was the 12th warmest December on record (114-year climate record).
(2) Average daily high temperature was 68.0°, which was 5.3° above normal and the 9th warmest December average on record (120-year climate record).
(3) Average daily low temperature was 43.6°, which was 1.3° above normal and the 42nd warmest December average on record (117-year climate record).

[weathernerd]

The average January precipitation at Austin Camp-Mabry is 2.10 inches (113-year climate record). The least was 0.00 inches in 1904 and the most was 9.21 inches in 1991.

Average May precipitation is 4.54 inches (115-year climate record) while in June, the average is 3.26 inches (116-year climate record).