No matter how you count it, this March was the hottest Dallas-Fort Worth has ever seen.
As of March 30, the average temperature for the month was 67.4 degrees, about three-quarters of a degree above the previous record in 1907. The average high was one degree higher, and the average low was four-tenths of a degree higher.
This climate record isn’t the first to get shattered. The delayed arrival of cool fall nights, toasty heat on Christmas Day and daily temperature stats have all been part of a broader trend statewide. Climate change has driven warming across all seasons, according to a 2024 report from the Office of the Texas State Climatologist.
Human-caused climate change stems primarily from burning fossil fuels such as coal, oil and methane gas, which creates heat-trapping pollution in the atmosphere. That activity has been the primary force reshaping our climate, but other sources of natural variability, like the El Niño Southern Oscillation, can also have an impact.
D-FW Weather Wise
“[Climate change] didn’t cause the anomalous weather pattern, but it made the impact of those anomalous weather patterns that much greater,” Texas State Climatologist John Neilsen-Gammon said.
And it’s not just North Texas. Much of the western United States, including Colorado, Arizona and California, has had the hottest March on record, according to data from the Southeast Regional Climate Center.
Nielsen-Gammon said climate change shifts the baseline of what is normal, pushing the barriers of records and extreme weather to new heights. This previous winter, a La Niña pattern also shifted the baseline of normal a few degrees warmer, putting more weather records on the brink.
“We’re going to get an unusually hot year every few years from now on,” Neilsen-Gammon said.
In the short term, he said this warmth could be setting up much of the U.S. for a hotter spring and summer. The heat right now is encouraging significant plant growth, decreasing the soil moisture and making the region more vulnerable to drought. Most of the state has already had an abnormally dry few months, with over 80% of Texas experiencing at least level one drought.
Depending on how much rain Texas gets in the coming weeks, these conditions could help facilitate a warmer summer, too.