Weather in 2020 was tame for Dallas-Fort Worth; now comes the drought

For all of the woes of 2020, weather was hardly one of them in North Texas.

There was no record stretch of days with triple-digit heat. (Dallas-Fort Worth actually had fewer 100-degree days than normal.) There were no ice storms that paralyzed the city. (Just a dusting of snow in January.) Even severe weather events were rarer. (There were nearly 50% fewer tornadoes in North Texas this year compared with 2019.)

But because less rain than usual has fallen in the final months of the year, North Texas will finish 2020 and head into the new year with a drought.

Through mid-December, effectively all of North Texas — including Dallas, Denton, Collin and Tarrant counties — was in at least a moderate drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. Most of Tarrant County and portions of western Dallas County have crept into severe levels of drought.

With a La Niña expected to linger through the winter, drought conditions will probably only worsen. That’s because La Niñas — characterized by below-normal sea surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean — generally mean drier and milder winters than usual for North Texas, according to Sarah Barnes, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Fort Worth.

“I can definitely see drought conditions continuing,” Barnes said, given the lack of rainfall in the second half of 2020.

Typically from July through the end of the year, Dallas-Fort Worth records over 16 inches of rain. Through Dec. 14, the area recorded 11.23 inches of rain in the second half of the year, according to weather service data.

In October, which is usually the second-wettest month of the year for North Texas, the area recorded only 1.28 inches of rain, compared to an average of 4.21 inches.

If drought conditions continue or worsen over the winter and into 2021, North Texas could also face the potential for wildfires.

Outlooks by the National Interagency Fire Center put North Texas at an above-normal potential for wildfires in January and February.

Dry soils and grasses because of the drought, added to low humidity and breezy winds during the winter, are enough to create potential for wildfires, according to Barnes.

“It doesn’t take much,” Barnes said.

Though all of North Texas will have a greater potential for wildfires in January and February, Barnes said typically wildfires most often occur outside of the immediate Dallas-Fort Worth area.