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66 in Dallas, 39 in Denton: DFW weather weirdness on full display Tuesday

Spring-like severe storms had barely cleared out of North Texas when an arctic cold front began to dip into the area.

DALLAS — This won't come as a surprise to anyone who's been here more than, say, a month. But in a week full of unsteady Texas weather, the weirdness of it was on full display just after sunrise Tuesday.

Spring-like severe storms had barely cleared out of North Texas when an arctic cold front began to dip into the area.

Just after 7 a.m., it was still a balmy 67 degrees in Dallas. 

At the same time, in parts of Tarrant County, it was already nearing the freezing mark, with temperatures dipping to around 40 degrees. 

Further northwest, Decatur was already at 37, and Wichita Falls was in the 20s.

An hour later, it was still 66 in Dallas, while Denton had dipped to 39, according to the National Weather Service.

The contrast in temperatures was even more extreme on a statewide level.

While it was 73 degrees in East Texas on Tuesday morning, it was 10(!) in Amarillo, where the arctic front had already settled into the Texas Panhandle.

Credit: WFAA

The cold front was expected to gradually shift across North Texas on Tuesday, dipping temperatures across the region before the chance of wintry mix on Wednesday into Thursday.

The wild shifts in weather - from warm and dry Monday to severe storms to arctic air - was no surprise this week. And it's even somewhat common in Texas this time of year, as WFAA meteorologist Jesse Hawila explained Monday.

“The only time weather here is consistent is July and August, when it's 100 degrees and sunny every day,” Hawila said.

“Every other month of the year, it's a wild ride and you never know what to expect. February is no different. The only difference in February is you can introduce that little thing we call winter weather. And we could see some this week.”

As Hawila explained, this is due in part to geography, with the Rocky Mountains to our west and the Appalachian Mountains further east. The area in between can act as a "pseudo-funnel" as cold air from Canada battles with warm air from the Gulf of Mexico.

And North Texas is at the center of it all.

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