It may already feel like spring, but the official start is just around the corner.
Meteorologists count seasons by months instead of solstices and equinoxes, meaning spring consists of March, April and May. On Thursday, the Climate Prediction Center released a new three-month outlook for spring showing warm days ahead.
The center’s forecasts assign probabilities of “above” or “below” normal conditions for the country, with some areas getting assigned “equal chances” if climate signals are less clear. Temperature and precipitation forecasts are both issued.
Most of the U.S., including almost every state south of Nebraska and Ohio, is expected to be a little warmer than normal.
D-FW Weather Wise
Northeastern Texas has a 33% to 40% chance of above normal conditions while other areas of Texas fall in the 40%-50% bracket. West Texas is even higher, at 50%-60% probability.
Notably, these forecasts do not reflect how far above normal that temperatures will be, just the confidence that temperatures could rise above normal.
When it comes to rain, the signals are less clear. Most of the state received an “equal chances” designation — however, most of the Panhandle and West Texas has below-normal precipitation chances. Rain probabilities across the country are lowest in the Southwest, with most of the south given “equal chances”.