A Texas weather station just recorded a temperature hotter than any other previous winter temperature on record in the U.S.
The Falcon Dam cooperative weather station, along the Rio Grande River about 70 miles south-southeast of Laredo, reported a high temperature of 106 degrees Thursday.
According to the National Weather Service office in Brownsville, Texas, this appears to be the hottest temperature recorded anywhere in the U.S. in the meteorological winter months, from December through February.
Weather in your inbox
By signing up you agree to the Terms & Privacy Policy. Unsubscribe at any time.
The previous hottest U.S. winter temperature, according to NWS-Brownsville, was 104 degrees in Rio Grande City, Texas, on Feb. 25, 1902.
NWS-Brownsville cautioned this 106-degree high is still considered preliminary, and will be subject to further investigation by meteorologists with expertise in weather instruments both at the NWS and at NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information.
That temperature is hotter than Falcon Dam’s hottest average high temperature in early August and is Death Valley’s average high at the end of May, America’s hottest place.
Other Heat Wave Notables
Falcon Dam was just one of over a half dozen NWS reporting stations that topped 100 degrees Thursday in what was the first triple-digit readings anywhere in the U.S. so far this year.
Laredo, Texas, also tied its all-time winter record Thursday, topping out at 103 degrees, a record they also set on Feb. 27, 2011 and Feb. 20, 1986.
Other Texas record highs for the calendar day alone Thursday were tied or set at McAllen (100), Corpus Christi (95), Victoria (89) and El Paso (83).
This is part of an expansive winter heat wave that may set additional daily record highs from Texas to Southern California.
Phoenix and Yuma, Arizona, may threaten their all-time winter records in the low to mid-90s during this heat wave.
On the other end of the spectrum, Fairbanks, Alaska, plunged to almost 50 below zero Friday, their coldest so late in winter in 70 years.
Jonathan Erdman is a senior meteorologist at weather.com and has been covering national and international weather since 1996. Extreme and bizarre weather are his favorite topics. Reach out to him on Bluesky, X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook.