First weekend of March brings warmth and showers to North Texas
Turn those calendars to March and say goodbye to winter. March is when warm days start to show up and stick around. It is a windy month that also delivers, on average, the last freeze of the cold season (March 12) and the spring equinox (March 20). Don't forget that this is also the month we return to daylight saving time (March 9).
The Climate Prediction Center updated the March outlook today. For North Texas, March is forecast to have a decent chance of being both warmer and drier than normal.
The weekend reflects this. We expect highs well above normal and mostly dry conditions.
Rain chances show up at the end of the weekend. The storms could have some punch in the late afternoon in our western counties, but they should weaken in the evening as they move over the Metroplex.
We are much more concerned about Tuesday. A significant early-season storm system is forecast to swing across the Midwest on Tuesday. One of our long-range models has the surface low pressure dropping to something close to hurricane strength over Missouri.
This powerful low will push a strong cold front across us Tuesday morning. Non-storm winds could gust close to 40 mph as it moves over. The First Alert Weather Team will be watching for large hail and damaging storm winds that could surpass 60 mph.
On the other side of the front, temperatures will cool down. Still, nothing cold and nothing freezing. It could be that our growing season has already started here in North Texas.
Here is your seven-day forecast. It could hit 80° on Monday, with storms possible late Monday night.