3 days of record freezing temps coming to Dallas-Fort Worth. How can Texas get this cold?

David Montesino
·3 min read
45

Bundle up this weekend as the National Weather Service warns of record cold temperatures across Dallas-Fort Worth as a blast of Arctic cold air pushes its frigid fingers south into Texas.

When most of North Texas wakes up Monday, there is a 20% chance snow will be on the ground. But wintry slush may the least of our worries. The region will experience sub-freezing temperatures for three straight days and nights — beginning overnight Sunday through mid-day Wednesday.

“Tuesday night will be the coldest night, with low temperatures bottoming out between 5 and 15degrees across the region,” NWS forecasters say. “Wind chills as low as -5 to -15 are expected, with the coldest conditions along the Red River.”

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Dallas-Fort Worth will experience record cold days

The frigid front is still days away, but the weather service assessment of what is coming is sobering. It breaks all sorts of records from decades ago. Here’s a rundown:

  • Low temperature Monday Jan 15: Forecast is 15 degrees, record is 11 degrees in 1905.

  • Lowest high temperature Monday Jan 15: Forecast is 25 degrees, record is 31 degrees in 1917.

  • Low temperature Tuesday Jan 16: Forecast is 10 degrees, record is 11 degrees in 1930.

  • Lowest high temperature Tuesday Jan 16: Forecast is 27 degrees, record is 26 degrees in 1953.

How does an Arctic blast stretch all the way south to Texas?

In short, its the Polar Vortex effect. You’ve heard the term bandied about my television meteorologists since the Texas freeze of 2021.

“There is a lot of myth and legend around the polar vortex. Actually, the polar vortex has been around forever,” meteorologist Victor Murphy at the National Weather Service in Fort Worth told the Star-Telegram earlier this year. “Ordinarily, there is a belt or a band of strong west to east winds that moves around the globe at relatively high latitude, close to the pole. Once or twice a year, the belt of strong winds will buckle, or have a weakness, and the jet stream (polar Vortex) will plunge southward. With this comes frigid temperatures to the lower latitudes of the globe.”

But what exactly is a Polar Vortex?

  • It is a large area of cold air above both the North and South poles, according to weather.gov. It is always in the Earth’s poles, weakening in the summer and gaining strength in the winter.

  • The term “vortex” means the flow of air is going counter clockwise, keeping the colder air near the poles.

  • In winter, the polar vortex expands and the jet stream carries the frigid air southward.

  • Texas feels the chill of Arctic air when the jet stream dips low enough.

  • This happens regularly, often several times a winter.

This weather phenomenon is not new. It’s that the term polar vortex has been popularized by television meteorologists explaining the blast of cold air reaching down to more temperate regions.

When the vortex is strong and stable, the polar jet stream shifts northward, keeping the cold air in the Arctic. But when the vortex weakens or is disrupted, the jet stream often becomes extremely wavy, allowing warm air to flood into the Arctic and polar air to sink down into the mid-latitudes.