Punxutawney Phil, the plump Pennsylvania rodent , may know a thing or two about predicting the weather after all. Having failed to see his shadow earlier this month, his handlers declared spring will be arriving a tad premature this year.
It may mean a larger leap into summer weather for the Dallas-Fort worth region.
A National Weather Service forecast out of its Fort Worth office predicts North Texas will see its first 80-degree day this year by Wednesday next week.
You read that right: 80 degrees in the dead of winter.
“Unfortunately, it’s especially well above normal for this time of year ,” Fort Worth meteorologist Monique Sellers tells the Star-Telegram. “A bigger departure than we’d like to see.”
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The average normal temperature for Dallas-Fort Worth in February is 60.9 degrees. The hottest February day around here pushed the mercury up to 96 degrees — and that was in 1904 . The warmest Feb. 22 was in 1996, when the record shows 93 degrees.