November Weather: All quiet on the Texas front

We can call November in North Texas, “The Quiet Month.” Although November’s weather continued the warmer-than-normal trend of this year, most days and nights were mild, and our few, far-between rains came without the usual baggage of severe storms.

From October 28^th, when a single tornado was confirmed east of Waco, until November 20^th, when a swarm of tornadoes and windstorms swept across central Louisiana and Mississippi, there were absolutely no reports of severe weather anywhere in the Continental United States. And at this writing (11/25), outside of the Texas coast, no severe weather potential was even detected before November 31^st.

Here are the numbers: November’s average high temperature was 68 degrees, roughly one degree warmer than the climate average of 67.2. The average low was 45, near the normal low of 43.3. Our warmest day of the month was Nov. 8^th with a high temperature of 85 just before a routine cold front. Our first official freeze was Oct. 31 with an early morning low of 30. We touched 28 on the mornings of Nov. 1st and 22^nd. A low of 29 was recorded on Nov. 2^nd. More lows in the upper 20’s to lower 30’s were forecast just after Thanksgiving weekend.

Rainfall was still sparse. A routine cold front dropped .26” of rain on the 9^th, with .05” reported on the 19^th, just ahead of the severe weather outbreak on the 20^th in Louisiana and Mississippi.

Total rainfall is only .31” for the month as of press time, but a promising storm system could bring rain to North Texas toward the end of the month. Normal rainfall for November is a little over 2 inches. For the year so far, Denton Enterprise Airport has recorded only 21.19” of rain, which is less than two-thirds of the normal rainfall quota of 32.35” through Nov. 25^th.

Looking ahead, after quiet weather for the last few days of November, a new Pacific storm system is forecast to deepen in the Desert Southwest and swing northeast across North Texas as December begins. Behind the storms, a new cold front will nudge North Texas closer to winter and coax a few more leaves off the trees.

The Climate Prediction Center forecasts near normal temperatures and rainfall through December, although the developing El Nino in the warming Pacific Ocean could (50-60% probability) bring warmer and wetter conditions to North Texas in early 2024.

I hope you had a great Thanksgiving weekend with family, friends, football and some acknowledgement of the Providential blessings which helped establish and prosper our nation. Most of us in North Texas enjoy a lifestyle of convenience, safety, health and plenty that kings and queens could not have imagined 100 years ago. We have much to be thankful for.