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Texas Climate Report: March 2005

The month of March started off with little out of the ordinary occurring across much of the state. Temperatures started off slightly below normal, especially across the eastern half of the state. Precipitation was not a major problem in most areas, with little in the way of heavy rainfall. However, Galveston received 1.12" on the 2nd and 1.67" on the 7th.

Again, severe weather and precipitation were absent for the most part from the weather pattern in the week that followed. The 12th was the warmest day for the month for most first-order stations, but was quickly followed by an abrupt cooling trend. The 16th was reported to have the lowest average temperature for this March across most of the state.

Severe weather finally made its way into the picture on the 19th with numerous reports of large hail. Hail 2.00" in diameter was reported in Caldwell, with numerous reports of 1.75" hail across Southeast Texas. Temperatures were well below normal across the state starting off the third week of March but recovered to more normal levels by the end of the week.

The first tornado reports of the month came on the 25th, with two reports in Travis County just outside of Austin. The end of March brought air much cooler than normal across much of the state, with many first-order stations reporting temperatures more than ten degrees below average on the 26th and 27th. The 26th was also a soggy day across North Central Texas with rainfall totals of 0.91" in Dallas, 1.23" in Denton, and 1.06" in Paris.

For the month in general, stations had temperatures that were just slightly below normal, with the exception being Deep South Texas. The Edwards Plateau, South Central, and Upper Coastal regions experienced above normal precipitation, while North Central and East Texas were drier than average.

Monthly Summary for Selected Cities

  TMAX (°F) TMIN (°F) TAVG (°F) PRCP *Deg. Days
Station Mean *Dep. Max. Mean *Dep. Min. Mean *Dep. Days ≥ 0.01" Mo. Total *Perc. Norm. Gr'st 24 hr. *HDD *CDD
Abilene 67.9 ‑1.2 85 43.5 ‑0.3 29 55.7 ‑0.7 6 2.19 155% 1.31 289 9
Amarillo 58.8 ‑3.4 83 32.3 ‑1.3 21 45.6 ‑2.3 10 1.92 170% 1.09 595 0
Austin 71.8 ‑0.7 85 49.6 ‑1.3 37 60.7 ‑1.0 12 4.30 201% 1.01 164 39
Brownsville 80.5 +2.5 92 58.5 ‑1.0 45 69.5 +0.7 6 0.24 26% 0.12 19 166
College Station 71.2 ‑1.4 86 49.5 ‑1.0 36 60.3 ‑1.3 12 3.81 134% 1.62 168 30
Corpus Christi 76.1 +0.3 94 56.5 +0.3 43 66.3 +0.3 13 2.46 141% 1.20 56 101
Dallas‑Fort Worth 67.8 ‑0.5 87 45.7 ‑0.7 32 56.7 ‑0.7 8 2.17 71% 1.39 259 10
Del Rio 75.6 ‑0.4 88 49.5 ‑2.1 34 62.6 ‑1.2 6 1.74 181% 0.82 106 39
El Paso 67.5 ‑2.7 79 43.2 ‑0.5 29 55.4 ‑1.6 3 0.08 31% 0.06 293 2
Galveston 70.2 +0.2 81 57.2 ‑1.0 45 63.7 ‑0.4 6 3.92 142% 1.67 91 59
Houston 72.0 ‑1.3 86 51.4 +0.1 40 61.7 ‑0.6 9 4.05 121% 1.19 144 51
Lubbock 64.2 ‑2.0 84 36.7 +0.5 26 50.5 ‑0.7 6 0.73 96% 0.30 444 0
Midland 66.8 ‑4.1 80 38.9 ‑1.9 29 52.8 ‑3.1 4 0.45 107% 0.20 371 0
Port Arthur 70.8 ‑1.2 83 50.9 ‑1.5 38 60.9 ‑1.3 9 2.95 79% 0.93 163 41
San Angelo 68.7 ‑2.4 80 41.7 ‑1.6 26 55.2 ‑2.0 5 2.81 284% 1.68 297 2
San Antonio 73.5 ‑0.8 89 49.2 ‑0.7 33 61.3 ‑0.8 9 2.00 106% 0.86 146 41
Victoria 74.7 +1.3 94 52.1 ‑1.8 37 63.4 ‑0.3 9 4.76 212% 1.77 106 65
Waco 69.6 ‑0.6 86 46.4 ‑0.4 30 58.0 ‑0.5 8 1.26 51% 0.64 229 19
Wichita Falls 66.8 ‑0.4 88 41.3 +0.2 31 54.0 ‑0.2 4 0.41 18% 0.24 334 5
Shreveport, LA 69.0 ‑0.7 86 47.2 35 58.1 ‑0.4 9 1.91 46% 0.64 231 24
*Dep.: Departure of the monthly average temperature from the 1971-2000 monthly normal, which is provided by the National Climatic Data Center.
*Perc. Norm.: Monthly precipitation total divided by 1971-2000 monthly normal, which is provided by the National Climatic Data Center.
*Deg. Days: Computed daily as the departure of the daily average temperature from 65°F and aggregated over the entire month.
*Heating degree day (HDD): Each unit corresponds to a -1°F departure of a daily average temperature from 65°F.
*Cooling degree day (HDD): Each unit corresponds to a +1°F departure of a daily average temperature from 65°F.

mar 2005 average temperatures
mar 2005 average precipitation

Monthly Extremes

Least Precipitation Overall for the Month (inches)
Station County Value
PRESIDIO PRESIDIO 0.00
BIG BEND RCH SP PRESIDIO 0.00
CORNUDAS SVC STN HUDSPETH 0.00
FT HANCOCK 8 SSE HUDSPETH 0.00
Greatest Precipitation Overall for the Month (inches)
Station County Value
REFUGIO 3 SW REFUGIO 8.31
Greatest Precipitation in 24 Hours (inches)
Station County Value
REFUGIO 3 SW REFUGIO 5.33
Lowest Average Daily Temperature (°F)
Station County Value
STRATFORD SHERMAN 42.0
Highest Average Daily Temperature (°F)
Station County Value
DONNA HIDALGO 71.5
Lowest Average Daily Maximum Temperature (°F)
Station County Value
CHANNING 2 HARTLEY 55.4
Highest Average Daily Maximum Temperature (°F)
Station County Value
GARCIASVILLE 2 ESE STARR 84.3
Highest Maximum Temperature  (°F)
Station County Value
GARCIASVILLE 2 ESE STARR 100
Lowest Maximum Temperature  (°F)
Station County Value
DEWEYVILLE NEWTON 16
ORANGE 9 N ORANGE 16
Lowest Average Daily Minimum Temperature (°F)
Station County Value
STRATFORD SHERMAN 26.0
Highest Average Daily Minimum Temperature (°F)
Station County Value
PORT ISABEL CAMERON 60.4
Highest Minimum Temperature (°F)
Station County Value
CORPUS CHRISTI NAS NUECES 71
DONNA HIDALGO 71
MERCEDES 6 SSE HIDALGO 71
PORT ISABEL CAMERON 71
PORT MANSFIELD WILLACY 71
SOUTH PADRE ISLAND CAMERON 71
Lowest Minimum Temperature (°F)
Station County Value
DALHART MUNI AP DALLAM 9
STRATFORD SHERMAN 9

New Monthly Records

Least Precipitation Overall for the Month (inches)
Station County Value Previous Record Yrs. Data
PRESIDIO PRESIDIO 0.00 0.00 (2002) 78
BIG BEND RCH SP PRESIDIO 0.00 0.00 (2002) 11
CORNUDAS SVC STN HUDSPETH 0.00 0.00 (2002) 61
FT HANCOCK 8 SSE HUDSPETH 0.00 0.00 (2002) 32
TYLER SMITH 1.95 1.96 (1996) 22
WACO MCLENNAN 0.66 1.12 (2003) 10
Greatest Precipitation Overall for the Month (inches)
Station County Value Previous Record Yrs. Data
PORT O CONNOR CALHOUN 7.03 4.63 (1979) 44
REFUGIO 3 SW REFUGIO 8.31 7.42 (2000) 10
WELDER W'LIFE FOUND SAN PATRICIO 8.06 7.74 (1992) 37
Greatest Precipitation in 24 Hours Ever in the Month (inches)
Station County Value Previous Record Yrs. Data
CHEAPSIDE GONZALES 2.22 2.03 (1999) 12
COMMERCE 4SW HUNT 1.80 1.69 (1999) 10
REFUGIO 3 SW REFUGIO 5.33 5.03 (2000) 10
Lowest Average Daily Temperature (°F)
Station County Value Previous Record Yrs. Data
KENT 8 SE JEFF DAVIS 50.5 50.7 (1990) 11
Lowest Average Daily Maximum Temperature (°F)
Station County Value Previous Record Yrs. Data
EL PASO 32 ENE HUDSPETH 61.9 62.3 (1991) 19
Lowest Maximum Temperature Ever in the Month (°F)
Station County Value Previous Record Yrs. Data
DEWEYVILLE NEWTON 16 37 (1989) 18
ORANGE 9 N ORANGE 16 37 (1989) 18
Lowest Average Daily Minimum Temperature (°F)
Station County Value Previous Record Yrs. Data
ACTON RCH CROCKETT 35.2 36.3 (1996) 13
LA GRANGE FAYETTE 44.7 44.9 (1965) 41

Climatic Averages for April

  TMAX (°F) TMIN (°F) PRCP (inches) No. Days in Month Deg. Days
Station Avg. Record Avg. Record Avg. Gr'st Mo. Gr'st 24 hr. ≥ 90°F ≤ 32°F PRCP ≥ 0.01" HDD CDD
Abilene 77.3 102 (1925) 51.8 25 (1973) 1.67 9.80 (1890) 4.63 (1914) 2.5 0.6 5.1 113 94
Amarillo 70.6 98 (1989) 41.7 13 (1920) 1.33 6.45 (1997) 2.68 (1911) 0.7 4.3 5.4 291 18
Austin 78.9 99 (1939) 57.6 30 (1926) 2.51 19.82 (1915) 10.00 (1915) 1.6 0.0 7.2 44 147
Brownsville 82.3 102 (1984) 65.2 37 (1903) 1.96 10.35 (1991) 9.37 (1991) 3.1 0.0 4.0 7 287
College Station 78.8 98 (1893) 56.9 28 (1973) 3.20 12.50 (1957) 5.30 (1953) 0.7 0.1 6.9 40 127
Corpus Christi 80.7 102 (1984) 62.3 33 (1987) 2.05 9.21 (2004) 7.19 (1956) 1.9 0.0 5.2 19 229
Dallas‑Fort Worth 75.9 100 (1925) 54.0 29 (1989) 3.20 17.64 (1922) 8.81 (1922) 0.9 0.2 7.2 74 72
Del Rio 82.7 106 (1984) 58.5 33 (1987) 1.71 7.51 (1981) 4.57 (1969) 6.6 0.0 5.2 27 207
El Paso 78.1 98 (1989) 51.1 23 (1983) 0.23 2.24 (1931) 1.08 (1966) 2.3 0.9 1.7 100 72
Galveston 75.2 92 (1953) 64.7 38 (1938) 2.56 11.04 (1904) 9.23 (1904) 0.0 0.0 5.5 15 163
Houston 79.1 95 (1987) 57.9 31 (1987) 3.60 10.92 (1976) 8.16 (1976) 0.9 0.1 7.0 48 147
Lubbock 74.7 100 (1989) 45.4 18 (1920) 1.29 6.18 (1915) 2.18 (1997) 1.6 1.4 5.0 182 48
Midland 78.8 101 (1996) 48.6 20 (1973) 0.73 3.59 (1931) 2.00 (1931) 3.8 0.9 3.2 120 77
Port Arthur 77.8 94 (1987) 58.6 32 (1987) 3.84 15.30 (1973) 10.09 (1973) 0.3 0.0 6.7 41 140
San Angelo 79.0 107 (1925) 51.0 23 (1926) 1.60 5.10 (1977) 3.32 (1971) 4.7 0.8 4.6 93 107
San Antonio 80.4 101 (1996) 56.9 31 (1987) 2.60 11.64 (1915) 6.78 (1915) 2.2 0.0 7.3 42 161
Victoria 79.2 100 (1920) 60.1 33 (1987) 2.97 11.70 (1997) 9.87 (1991) 0.8 0.0 6.4 28 181
Waco 77.6 101 (1963) 54.2 27 (1975) 2.99 13.37 (1957) 5.09 (1957) 1.4 0.2 6.7 77 111
Wichita Falls 75.5 102 (1972) 49.3 24 (1975) 2.62 8.50 (1957) 4.09 (1967) 1.9 0.7 6.5 140 66
Shreveport, LA 76.6 96 (1887) 53.8 31 (1989) 4.42 21.84 (1991) 10.44 (1991) 0.1 0.2 8.2 89 87
Climatic averages are based on 1971-2000 monthly normals, which are provided by the National Climatic Data Center.
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