Climate of Dallas

Climate Of Dallas

The city of Dallas has a humid, hot climate and is often prone to storms (severe or not) (Köppen climate classification Cfa), though it is located in a region that also tends to receive warm, dry winds from the north and west in the summer, bringing temperatures about 102 °F (39 °C) at times and heat-humidity indexes soaring to as high as 117 °F (47 °C).

A couple of times each year, warm and humid air from the south overrides cold, dry air, leading to freezing rain, which often causes major disruptions in the city if the roads and highways become slick. On the other hand, daytime highs above 65 °F (18 °C) are not unusual during the winter season. In sum, extremes in weather are more readily seen in Dallas and Texas as a whole than along the Pacific and Atlantic coasts, due to the state's location in the interior of the United States.

Spring and autumn bring pleasant weather to the area. Vibrant wildflowers (such as the bluebonnet, Indian paintbrush and other flora) bloom in spring and are planted around the highways throughout Texas. Springtime weather can be quite volatile, but temperatures themselves are mild. The weather in Dallas is also generally pleasant between late September and early December, and unlike springtime, major storms rarely form in the area.

In the spring, cool fronts moving south from Canada collide with warm, humid air streaming in from the Gulf Coast. When these fronts meet over north central Texas, severe thunderstorms are generated with spectacular lightning shows, torrents of rain, hail, and occasionally, tornadoes. Over time, tornadoes have perhaps been the biggest natural threat to the city.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture places Dallas in Plant Hardiness Zone 8a. According to the American Lung Association, Dallas has the 12th highest ozone air pollution in the nation, ranking it behind Los Angeles and Houston. 30% of the air pollution in Dallas, and the Metroplex in general, comes from the three cement plants in the town of Midlothian, as well concrete installations in neighboring Ellis County, but the foremost contributor to air pollution in Dallas is exhaust from automobiles. Due to the area's spread-out nature and high amount of urban sprawl, automobiles are the only viable mode of transportation for many residents in the metropolitan area.

The city's all-time recorded high temperature is 113 °F (45 °C), while the all-time recorded low is −8 °F (−22 °C) in 1980 and 1899 respectively. The average daily low in Dallas is 57.1 °F (13.9 °C) and the average daily high in Dallas is 76.7 °F (24.8 °C). Dallas receives approximately 37.1 inches (942 mm) of equivalent rain per year.