Dallas TX & Tampa Florida - Very detailed weather comparison

As most of you probably know by now, I am moving out to Frisco, Texas at the end of the month due to relocated job. Having never been to Texas before, and the west side of the Mississippi only once, this will be a fairly large change for me.

I have taken the liberty to browse through the monthly climate summary reports of both the DFW Area and the Tampa area and smashed them together in a hopefully legible and possibly large summary below. This info comes straight from the National Weather Service, through me, to you so the accuracy of the data will be fairly certain. I find this much more interesting and complete than browsing on unofficial moving sites and Chamber of Commerce sites that give a general idea of annual rainfall and other weather events but don’t have real accurate info. Now if you don’t want to read every individual month’s summary then just skip to the end where I have the overall summary.

Fall Winter:

November…

I start with November since that is the first month any of us will be out in the DFW area. Typically in Florida, November marks when fall for us truly begins. Temps begin to dip lower, people can open their windows in their house for maybe two or three days of the month and our summer rain pattern has ended. While tropical storms/hurricanes are still a threat, they typically do not occur for us. Now with that in mind, here is what we can expect in DFW… November brings the first chances of snow for the season, while Nov 2007 brought only a trace amount, it is normal for 0.2 inches of snow to fall in this month. Rain precipitation normally totals 2.57 inches in DFW vs 1.62 inches in Tampa. No days with thunderstorms occurred in either DFW or Tampa for this month last year. Temps will be considerably cooler in DFW than they are in Tampa, average high in DFW is 65 and avg low is 45, compared to Tampa where avg high is 78, average low is 59. Now here is a big difference, percent of sunshine in DFW is 59% whereas Tampa is 91%. Also a noticeable difference is with humidity, DFW averages 57% while Tampa averages 66%. Lastly, in Tampa you will spend approximately 17% of the month heating your home, 83% cooling it. In DFW you will spend about 54% of the month heating vs 46% cooling it. (I use this percentage from a value called Degree Days Heating and Degree Days Cooling where 65 degrees F is the switch between heat and cool, this is used as an estimate for household energy consumption directly related to climate control devices.)

December…

Next month, when things really start to get cold in the DFW area. Again being used to Florida, we typically expect only one day this month where temps may drop below 32 degrees. In DFW, expect 6 of the 31 days to have low temps below 32 with an absolute minimum temp of around 21 near Xmas day. Average high and low for DFW is 56 and 36, vs Tampa of 72 and 54. The Dallas area gets about 2.57 inches of rain average while Tampa gets around 2.30. Typically DFW will receive around 0.2 inches of snow from only one snow day this month. Last year DFW had 4 thunderstorm days, Tampa had 1. Fog is as much a problem in Dallas as it is in Tampa this time of year, both cities had 15 days with fog in December 07. DFW average humidity is 60%, Tampa is 71%. Another considerable difference, Sunshine percentage in DFW is 59%, Tampa 89%. In Dallas, you will spend approximately 98% of the month heating your home, 2% cooling. Tampa however you will spend around 26% on heating and 74% on cooling.

January…

This is the coldest month of the year for DFW and some good chances for snow come to the area as well. In January the average highs and lows for DFW are 54 and 34, while in Tampa they are 70 and 52. The absolute lowest temperature for the month should be around 17 degrees near new years day. 14 of the 31 days will have low temps below freezing and about 1 to 2 days may not even have high temps climbing outside the freezing range! Avg monthly rainfall is 1.90 inches in DFW, compared to 2.27 in Tampa. An average monthly snowfall total of 0.8 inches can also be expected which again should occur on only one, possibly two snow days. No thunderstorm days occurred January 08 in DFW, compared to 1 thunderstorm day in Tampa. Fog is still just as prevalent an issue in January for both cities. Average humidity in DFW is 54%, avg for Tampa is 66%. Sunshine percentage for DFW is 63%, compared to 84% in Tampa. Approximately 98% of the month will be spent heating your home, vs 2% cooling again. Tampa is split with 42% cooling and 58% heating.

February…

This month is also quite cold for the DFW area while February is (arguably) the best month for leaving the house windows open in Tampa. DFW sees an average high and low of 60 and 38 while Tampa sees 71 and 53. The absolute lowest temp for the month should be around 22 near February 1, while the highest temps should get into the low to mid 80s at the end of February. Keep in mind also that February is the Tampa area’s number two tornado month, while the DFW area does have an increased risk of tornados but this is not its largest month. Rain precipitation averages around 2.37 inches for DFW, while Tampa averages 2.67. Approximately 1.2 inches of snow fall on average this month, spread across an unknown number of days(their report says 0 snow days last year this month). Four thunderstorm days occurred in DFW while 3 occurred in Tampa. Tampa had a disproportionate amount of days with thick haze and fog in Feb 08 with 23 days and 14 days respectively, DFW had 5 days and 4 days. Monthly sunshine percentage in DFW is 69% vs Tampa with 91%. Humidity average in DFW is 54% and Tampa with 67%. About 95% of this month will be spent heating your home in Dallas and 5% cooling it. In Tampa, the degree days heating and cooling were both very low so this would be a great window-open month. However with the time the windows were shut, about 63% of the time is spent cooling, and 37% spent heating.

Spring Summer

March…

Now we start to see the Texas heat building in and the true range of temperatures that can occur for the area. This month through late May will bring very large temperature variations with passing cold fronts on the order of 30-40 degree drops in a day. In DFW, the average highs and lows are 68 and 46, while Tampa is 76 and 58. The absolute lowest temp in DFW is around 28 at the beginning of March, while the absolute highest can be around 85 at the end of the month. A record high of 100 degrees exists for this month on various dates in 1911 and 1916. An average of around 13 days with precipitation will bring 3.06 inches of rain to the area. Tampa averages around 2.84 inches for this month. As an FYI, March is the Tampa area’s number one tornado month mainly due to waterspouts and weak tornados forming in passing strong cold fronts. The tornado threat also exists for the DFW area this month as well, but again this is not their number one month. An average of 0.1 inches of snow falls on one day for the DFW area normally, however March 2008 had two separate snow days totaling 2.1 inches including mixed precipitation and sleet. DFW had 6 thunderstorm days in Feb 08 vs Tampa with 4. Sunshine percentage for DFW is 64%, for Tampa it is 84%. Humidity averages for DFW are 56%, Tampa is 65%. This may be the best window-open month for the DFW area as the degree days heating and cooling are somewhat low, but of the days with the windows closed, 64% will be spent heating and 36% spent cooling. This compares to Tampa of 27% heating and 73% cooling.

April…

Again, a very large temperature range for the DFW area this month as cold fronts bring very cold air from the north, but humid gulf air from the south heats it right back up again. DFW has an average high and low of 75 and 54 compared to Tampa with 80 and 62. Absolute maximum temp should be around 89 degrees at the end of the month, while absolute lowest temp should be around 38 at the beginning to middle of the month. This is the first month of the year where temps below freezing should not occur on any day. Snowfall again is also very unlikely, only 3 times has snow fall occurred in April and all three were only trace amounts. Normally this is when dry season kicks in full gear for the Tampa area, however this is when tornado and hail season really starts kicking in for the DFW area. These storms can occur in all sorts of different scenarios as well. They either exist as an isolated supercell storm where no other storm exists for 100+ miles, a line of supercells along a dry line or other type of boundary, or embedded in a large line of severe storms associated with a cold front. Typically Florida gets the latter of the three frequently in winter while all three do occur in the Midwest. The main threat will be hail, lightning and strong straight-line winds however tornados are certainly a possibility. During this time of year I would expect at least one or two tornados to occur within 25 miles of any given point every month. Now back on topic here, DFW has around 68% sunshine this month while Tampa has 88%. Average humidity for Dallas is 57% and Tampa with 63%. Six thunderstorm days occurred in Dallas this month in 2008, one of which reported hail. Tampa reported no thunderstorm days for April 08. You will spend around 65% of the month using air conditioning, and 35% heating in Dallas. This compares to Tampa with 95% cooling and 5% heating.

May…

Now this is the big weather month for Texas. I will need to find if this is accurate but I believe May is the number one severe weather month for Texas. This mainly consists of large hail, damaging straight-line winds and tornados. For Florida, May tends to be the heart of our dry season with hardly any weather to speak of occurring other than high temps, high humidity and lots of sunshine. To start off this month, average highs and lows for DFW are 83 and 63, while Tampa is 86 and 68. Absolute highest temp we should expect is around 94 near the middle of the month, absolute lowest around 50 at the start of the month. We can expect around 14 days of this month to have high temps over 90 degrees, and around 2 days where low temps remain above 80 degrees. This is fairly comparable to Florida for this month. Precipitation is around 5.15 inches average with 9 rain days compared to Tampa with 2.85 inches across 6 rain days. There are around 7 thunderstorm days in DFW with one of those days reporting hail in May 2008. Tampa only reported 1 thunderstorm day for the same time period. Average sunshine in Dallas is 68% compared to 86% in Tampa. Humidity average is 57% in Dallas, compared to 63% in Tampa. In both cities, your thermostat will be set to air conditioning the entire month.

June…

This month is a transition period from spring to summer for both cities. In Dallas, this marks the change from the rainy severe weather season to the dry and extremely hot season around one to two weeks into the month. Tampa has the same time-frame but we go from dry and hot to wet season with our afternoon thunderstorms kicking off like clockwork every day. The severe weather threat is past its peak in June for Dallas but still can pack a punch. A majority of the severe weather actually occurs in the central and northern plains states during early June. For Dallas, we can expect average highs and lows of 91 and 70 while Tampa ranges from 91 to 75. Absolute highest temperature for DFW will occur in mid June and be around 98 degrees. June of 2008 had 29 days with temps over 90, and 5 days with temps over 100. An average of 3.23 inches of rain falls during this month in Dallas, vs 5.50 inches in Tampa. Average sunshine percentage for Dallas is 65%, Tampa is 85%. Average humidity is 54% in DFW, 67% for Tampa. Again, your thermostat will remain on air conditioning in both cities the entire month. Side note, this month marks the start of hurricane season. A fair part of the rainfall total for Tampa is attributed to regular tropical storms during June. DFW can still be hit by a named storm, however it is so far inland that even a Category 5 making landfall in Houston would only be a Tropical Storm by the time it reached Dallas (can reference Hurricane Ike that just hit a few weeks ago).

July…

HOT! HOT! HOT! Dallas is in the middle of their yearly heat wave in July with very little rain to help cool it off. Dallas average highs and lows are 95 and 74 compared to Tampa with 89 and 75. Absolute maximum temp will be over the one hundred mark at 103 degrees. A record of 110 was set however in DFW though the date says 10/07/5881(Unless the National Weather Service has a time-machine they aren’t telling us about, id say that’s an error). July of 08 recorded all 31 days with temps over 90, and a whopping 16 days with temps over 100! Only 2.12 inches fall on average this month in Dallas vs a very large 9.84 inches in Tampa. Another considerable difference is Dallas had around 4 thunderstorm days in July 08, while Tampa had an amazing 22 thunderstorm days! Both cities had one day with hail reported. The humidity in Texas this time of year is quite low with an average of 49%, Tampa has an average of 72%. Tampa still has Texas beat for sunshine percentage despite all the thunderstorm days, Texas comes in at 64% and Tampa with 84%. Likely no need to say it but both cities have their A/C cranked to max all month still. On a side note as far as the degree days cooling goes, Dallas has 753 degrees cooling for the month, while Tampa has 531. This is about a 30% increase in cooling power required to cool a home in Dallas vs Tampa during July! Double paned windows in your house are probably a good idea.

August…

Both cities are right around the same average temperature ranges as in July. Dallas’ avg high and low are 95 and 74 while Tampa is 90 and 75. In August 08, 27 days had temps over 80 and 9 days had temps over 100. Normally, the absolute high temp should be around 103 degrees. A record high of 112 degrees exists from back in 1936. Only 2.03 inches of rain are expected to fall on average for this month vs 7.60 inches in Tampa. Sunshine percentage in Dallas is only 44% for this month vs Tampa with 83%. Humidity in Dallas is 56% on average, Tampa is 74%. Again in August 08, 6 thunderstorm days occurred in Dallas while 13 thunderstorm days occurred in Tampa. You will spend the entire month using air conditioning in both cities, but expect to pay about 20% more in Dallas for A/C than you would in Tampa for the same month.

September…

This month starts to cool off a bit for the DFW area while Tampa still remains exactly the same as the previous two months. Average highs and lows for DFW are 87 and 67 vs Tampa with 89 and 75 again. Absolute highest temp that should occur is 99 degrees near the beginning of the month. September 08 had 16 days with temps over 90, no days with temps over 100. Average rainfall in DFW is 2.42 inches for the month, vs 6.54 in Tampa. Sunshine percentage is 60% in DFW, and 88% in Tampa. Humidity increases in Dallas up to 57%, while high at 68% in Tampa. No thunderstorm days were reported in September 08 for Dallas, while only 1 thunderstorm day was reported in Tampa (this was an abnormal month for us). Both cities you will spend the entire month on A/C however Tampa is technically hotter for longer. In Dallas you will spend about 20% less on your A/C bill than you would in Tampa for this month.

October…

It’s the last month I have to write a summary on! This month is a big climate change month for the Dallas area, while the Tampa area generally starts to get drier but not a whole lot cooler. In DFW, the rain chance pick way back up and temps drop by a pretty good amount. This is a very comfortable month to live in the Dallas area. Average highs and lows are 78 and 56 for Dallas, vs 84 and 67 for Tampa. Average rainfall for DFW is 4.11 inches, vs Tampa with 2.29(rainy season is over). There are two prior instances where snowfall occurred in October for DFW however they were only trace amounts, normally snow does not fall during this month. The sunshine percentage for Dallas jumps way up to 76% for this month, compared to a lower 72% in Tampa. Humidity in DFW is an average of 58%, Tampa still around 70%. This is a good open-window month for Dallas as the degree days heating and cooling are relatively low again, but of the days you need the windows closed, 30% will be used for heating and 70% for cooling. In Tampa you will still need your air conditioner on nearly full-time. Dallas reported 3 thunderstorm days in October 07 vs 4 thunderstorm days in Tampa.

Summary!

OK, so it has literally taken me 2.5 hours to put this much of the email together so far, way longer than I anticipated. But to give a summary for what to expect in Dallas, here it goes.

In the Winter months we can expect frequent temps dipping well below freezing to around the 17 degree mark, with around 10 to 15 days per year under the freezing mark. Around 0.25 to 1.0 inches of snow will fall annually ranging from November to March with about 5 total snow days. On these days we can also expect mixed precipitation, sleet, and freezing rain as we will likely be right at the freezing line with these storms. Most days in the winter will remain under 65 degrees requiring heavy use of heaters at home and jackets when not at home. The severe storm threat during the winter months should be low.

The spring months from mid March through early June bring about drastic climate change with cold fronts bringing 30-40 degree temperature drops in a 24 hour period, a moderate to high severe storm threat and lots of rain. This time frame is Dallas’ rainy season. Temps will easily range from the upper 30s to the upper 80s and occasionally into the low 90s during these months. Again, the severe storm threat is moderate to high with the main threats being damaging straight-line winds and large hail. Tornados are also likely to occur within 25 miles of any given area, the most likely time of year will be during May for these.

The summer months are Dallas’ dry and heat season, ranging from mid-June to August. High temps frequently cap well over 100 degrees, lows dipping to the low to mid 70s. Humidity is quite low however usually hovering in the 40% range during the day. Very little rainfall occurs during this time frame, which is comparable to Florida’s dry season rain rates which occurs in April and May of around 2 inches per month. During the peak summer months, you can expect to use around 20% to 30% more energy for climate control than is currently used during the same months in Tampa. The severe weather threat during these months is minimal to non-existent.

The autumn months bring back more humidity and rain to the area and much cooler temps, with the overall cool downs occurring about a month earlier than they do in Florida. September and October make up these months, while the first part of September does have very high temps, the second half tends to offset the averages and bring the overall temps below that of Florida for the same time. Strangely enough, Dallas has more sunshine in October than Tampa does. The severe weather threat during these months is also minimal.

Overall, Tampa is about 4 degrees warmer annually than Frisco is.

Frisco gets around 32.7 inches of rain annually vs Tampa with 47.5 inches of rain.

Frisco gets between 0.25 and 1.0 inches of snow annually, spread out across approximately 5 snow days.

In Frisco, we will spend nearly 7 times as much energy heating our homes annually than we would in Tampa

In Frisco, we will spend about 20% less energy on cooling annually than we would in Tampa

Approximate tornados ever recorded per 1000 square miles in the Dallas area is 6-15 (Fort Worth has over 15, Frisco is 6-10)

Approximate tornados ever recorded per 1000 square miles in the Tampa area varies between 1-10, higher the more north you get.

(Side note, the two areas with the highest tornado risk in the entire world, are around Oklahoma City, OK and the area including and immediately west of Fort Worth, TX.)

That’s it, that’s all I got for ya! Its officially taken me 3.5 hours to write this now, about 2.5 hours longer than I wanted to put into this. If anyone has any questions then feel free to ask me anything!