Isn't It Suppose To Snow During Winter?

Dalhart Weather Review 

Dalhart Sunset from the end of February

by Aaron Graves

It is the beginning of March, and spring is just around the corner. The Dalhart Weather Review has emerged from its winter hibernation in expectation of all the wonderful days ahead of us. Warm temperatures, green grass, children laughing at the park, colorful flowers, the smell of rain in the air, and the rumble of thunder at night are some of the sights and sounds that make this time of year so special. 

As we begin our March towards spring - pun intended - one big question hangs in the air like dust from the local feed yards: will the drought return? I don't ask this to create unnecessary drama for what is basically a weather blog written during a prolonged period of nice, sunny weather. After four years of extreme drought conditions, it is widely thought that our drought relief was due to the El Niño weather pattern. What happens, though, when the El Niño goes away? Will our local weather return to normal, or will it swing back towards drought?

That is a question that I will attempt to...... no, actually, it is a question I will ask some people who know a lot more about weather and climate than I do. I will let them answer that question in next week's blog.

For now let's look back on what has happened over the past few months. Dalhart finished 2015 with a grand total of 21.23" of precipitation. We picked up 1.02" in November and 0.55" in December to round out the year. Some of that came in the form of ice and snow, with the biggest snowfall on December 27. We typically see a big snowstorm late December, but this one tracked further south leaving us with only 1.5" here in Dalhart.

Likewise, January and February did not bring any big storms. Dalhart has an underwhelming grand total of 2.5" of measurable snowfall for the winter of 2015/2016. On average, we should have in the neighborhood of 13" by March 1.

January and February are typically dry months for Dalhart. Our overall precipitation total since January 1 is a quarter inch. That puts us 0.67" behind normal for this time of year. 

Was El Niño to blame for our warm and dry winter? Or is the drought hiding behind a big pile of tumbleweeds waiting for El  Niño to go on his merry way before pouncing on us again? We'll get the experts to weigh in on those questions next week.

Until then expect sunny and dry weather through this weekend, with high temperatures fluctuating between the mid 60's and the upper 70's.

Weather Stats For The Last 4 Months

Avg. High - Avg. Low - Precip -  Snowfall

Nov 2015: 62.1 - 30.1 - 1.02" - 0.5"

Dec 2015: 52.9 - 25.2 - 0.55" - 1.5 "

Jan 2016: 52.7 - 21.5 - 0.11" - Trace

Feb 2016: 62.3 - 27.0 - 0.14" - 0.5 "