November is transition month, from warm autumn to just plan cold!

Note: this is a compilation of two previous articles from "The County Times Two"

Dalhart Weather Review
By Aaron Graves

Eagles can now be seen again at Rita Blanca Lake.

Our first taste of winter arrived Monday, Nov. 10, just like spring did earlier this year - with a wall of dust. A calm day with a beautiful blue sky gave way to a strong cold front that blew in after 5 p.m. Our winds shifted from the southwest to the north, with gusts as high as 51 mph. We had just set a new record high for the day, 84 degrees, which beat out the old record of 79 set in 1980. After the front arrived and the initial wave of dirt blew through, we dropped to an overnight low of 19 degrees. The following day, we struggled to get to 34 degrees for a high temperature.

That cold front followed our first official freeze on Nov. 9 when the low got down to 30 degrees. Up until then, we had been enjoying mild autumn weather with daytime highs generally in the 60s.

Since Nov. 10, overnight lows have continually fallen below freezing. The low of 5 degrees on Nov. 17 broke the record low of 9 degrees set in 1980. Likewise, the low of 14 degrees on Nov. 12 broke the old record of 16 degrees set in 2012. We have seen a couple of 70 degrees days since, but generally daytime highs have ranged from the mid 40’s to the mid 60’s. 

With the cold comes the annual migration of Canadian Geese to Lake Rita Blanca. The lake is also full of Mallard Ducks, and if you keep a sharp eye you might see a couple of Eagles. Two have been spotted the past week. 

To date, we have seen only 0.08” of precipitation for November. We enjoyed light rain showers and a few rumbles of thunder on Nov. 2. The National Weather Service in Amarillo recorded 0.07" at the airport. 

Our first measurable snowfall came earlier, with 1.5" of snow falling on Nov. 16. It broke the old daily record of 0.70" set back in 1980. Unfortunately, it was a dry snow, delivering the equivalent of only 0.01" of moisture. In general, according to the NWS, Dallam County saw 1" to 2" of snow; Hartley County totals ranged from 2" to 3". 

Snow flurries on Nov. 12 and Nov. 23 brought only a trace of moisture. Our current year-to-date precipitation total is 11.28". 

October 2014 ended with an average high of 75.0 degrees and an average low of 44.7 degrees. It was about 4 degrees warmer than average. We received 1.01" of rainfall, about a half inch below normal for October.

High and low temps the past four weeks

Oct 28: 64, 36
Oct 29: 72, 34
Oct 30: 71, 40
Oct 31: 61, 36
Nov 1: 70, 40
Nov. 2: 82, 43
Nov 3: 70, 44
Nov 4: 57, 38
Nov 5: 67, 35
Nov 6: 67, 34
Nov 7: 78, 35
Nov 8: 65, 41
Nov 9: 78, 30
Nov 10: 84, 26
Nov 11: 34, 18
Nov 12: 19, 14
Nov 13: 22, 13
Nov 14: 45, 21
Nov 15: 70, 23
Nov 16: 31, 12
Nov 17: 41, 5
Nov 18: 52, 13
Nov 19: 53, 26
Nov 20: 55, 25
Nov 21: 61, 24
Nov 22: 71, 27
Nov 23: 50, 29
Nov 24: 51, 25