No Freeze, Instead Warm Up Under Way

Dalhart Weather Review

By Aaron Graves

When will it freeze in Dalhart? It is always hard to say for sure. Our average first freeze date is Oct. 14th, according to the National Weather Service office in Amarillo. October 14th has come and gone, and we have not seen our first freeze yet.

Overnight low temperatures did drop below 40 on the 14th and 15th. However, a warm up is underway, as forecast. Overnight lows are expected to get back up to near 50 degrees and daytime temps will warm back into the mid 80’s through Sunday of this week. Of course, check the forecast daily. You never know if something is going to sneak up on us. 

We picked up another 0.09” of rain on Saturday, Oct. 18. This brings our monthly total precipitation to 1.01” and our year-to-date total to 11.20”. We have rain in the forecast again for today. 

How do you get your weather information? Is it by a smart phone app? The Amarillo TV stations? The local KXIT radio? A shared link to a weather graphic on Facebook? What follows is my personal opinion, but I hope it contains some good advice. 

First of all, weather should come from a meteorologist, preferably one who lives in the Texas Panhandle and understands Panhandle weather. Thus, if my smart phone app says sunshine, but Doppler Dave in Amarillo says rain, I’m gonna grab my umbrella. Likewise, if the Weather Channel’s national outlook disagrees with the local TV weatherman or weatherwoman, I’m gonna listen to the local forecaster.

However, thanks to smart phones and tablets, we don’t have to wait until the 6 o’clock news to see the forecast. It is soooo much easier to download a weather app. Some apps provide automated weather information not vetted by an actual meteorologist. With that in mind, I recommend you create a link on your device to the National Weather Service office in Amarillo. The web address is www.weather.gov/ama. 

When you visit that web address, you will see a map of the Texas Panhandle. Click on Dalhart and you will be taken to the forecast page for our area. If a change in the weather is a-brewing, usually there is a graphic on the home page as well. This will be as accurate a forecast as is possible, created by trained meteorologists that live in our area. 

In future articles, I will talk more about how to access trustworthy weather information online.

High and low temps the past week: 

Oct 14: 73, 39

Oct 15: 85, 37

Oct 16: 84, 44

Oct 17: 69, 44

Oct 18: 56, 44

Oct 19: 77, 46

Oct 20: 77, 46