AMARILLO, Texas (KAMR/KCIT) – While Texas may not be best known for its winter weather, parts of the Lone Star State began 2024 colder than Antarctica and shattering decades-old temperature records.
As arctic air moved south and encompassed Texas with freezing air the week of Jan. 15, 2024, meteorologists and casual community members alike called back comparisons to the coldest days in Texas history.
According to the National Weather Service, the coldest days in Texas history had their all-time records set during the Great Blizzard of 1899, when another burst of arctic air swept across the continental US and saw temperatures drop well below 0 degrees in every state.
The lowest temperature in Texas history was recorded during the 1899 blizzard, when Tulia in the Texas Panhandle’s Swisher County recorded its temperature at -23 degrees below zero on Feb. 12. The blizzard was so cold that the NWS noted anecdotes from the time reported a thin layer of ice coating most of Galveston Bay, far to the south. The -23 degrees below zero record was also met in February 1933 in Seminole in West Texas’ Gaines County.
In 2024, wind chill values in the Texas Panhandle rivaled the 1899 record with reports of wind chill values up to -20 degrees below zero in the region. Multiple communities, including Liscomb, Canadian, Miami, McLean, Stratford, and Amarillo reported air temperatures of -1 degrees below zero to 0 degrees between Jan. 14 and Jan. 16. Amarillo not only broke daily temperature records set in 1930 and 1972, as reported by KAMR Local 4 News Meteorologist Maria Pasillas, but experienced below-freezing temperatures for a continuous 97 hours.
The NWS recorded all-time record low temperatures for various cities across Texas, including:
Abilene – 9 below zero, set in 1947
Amarillo – 16 below zero, set in 1899
Austin – 2 below zero, set in 1949
Beaumont – 10 degrees, set in 1906
Brownsville – 12 degrees, set in 1899
Corpus Christi -11 degrees, set in 1899
Dallas/Fort Worth – 8 below zero, set in 1899
Del Rio – 10 degrees, set in 1989
El Paso – 8 below zero, set in 1962
Galveston – 8 degrees, set in 1899
Houston – 5 degrees, set in 1930 and 1940
Lubbock – 17 below zero, set in 1933
Midland/Odessa – 11 below zero, set in 1985
San Angelo – 4 below zero, set in 1989
San Antonio – 0 degrees, set in 1949
Waco – 5 below zero, set in 1949 and 1899
Wichita Falls – 12 below zero, set in 1947
However, as noted in previous reports on MyHighPlains.com, the Texas Panhandle is home to the coldest communities in the Lone Star State. The population center of the region, Amarillo, has an annual average high of 71 degrees, and Dalhart and Hartley with annual average highs of 69 degrees. While those cities aren’t counted even within the top 150 coldest cities in the US, their yearly averages as a result of climate and geography mean it’s not a surprise that the all-time record coldest temperatures in Texas have been most often recorded in the region.
Looking ahead, as reported by Pasillas, cold fronts heading for parts of Texas could bring another surge of bitterly cold air and dangerous wind chills by Jan. 19. The trend of regular icy weather could also continue through the rest of winter, as El Niño conditions bring an increased likelihood of a colder, wetter season for the Southern US.
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