As you can see from today’s cover, it’s been a while since we’ve marked the 40s on the thermometer and now we’re looking at widespread sweater weather for Wednesday morning:
Recommended Videos
Wednesday is October 19th which got me wondering if that is a particularly early date to drop into the 40s around here and turns out it is! The last three years we didn’t hit 40s until the end of the month and in 2018 we had to wait until November. In 2017 on the 25th we dropped to 46° BUT we also dropped to 35° on the 29th, which set a record low. 30s in October are hard to find! In 2016 we got to the 40s on the 22nd, but again had to wait until November in both 2014 and 2015. Coincidentally, October 20th brought 40s in 2011, 2012 and 2013. Finally, I found it--in 2010 we hit 49° on October 5th. So this will be the earliest since then to drop so low!
Is this a sign of cold to come? Not necessarily. La Nina looks to stick around through April or May of next year. You can see how strong it is right now--all that blue over the Pacific!
According the the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA, La Nina winters in Texas are generally a little warmer and a little drier:
Saying that, La Nina was in place in February 2021 and we know what happened then! So a cold snap during the winter months wouldn’t surprise me (it is winter, after all), but shouldn’t be the norm.
Enjoy Wednesday’s early cold punch--as you can see, it doesn’t last long and we warm up by the weekend:
Frank