Winters end sooner in Dallas-Fort Worth now

Winter is already a distant memory in North Texas.

Driving the news: Dallas-Fort Worth is expected to get some needed rain this week, but temperatures will still be warmer than normal, per the National Weather Service.

• There's a chance of rain every day starting Wednesday and continuing until Sunday.

The big picture: The region sees eight fewer winter days now compared to decades ago.

• Winters are now shorter in 80% of the 245 U.S. cities analyzed by Climate Central, a climate research group.

How it works: Climate Central defined "winter" as the coldest 90 days of the year in a row during the 1970-1997 period, then compared the frequency of those temperatures during the 1998-2025 period.

• The temperature-based approach is different from the way seasons are traditionally defined by calendar dates.

Zoom in: February started with its coldest day, dropping to 22 degrees. The average temperature that day was nearly 11 degrees below normal.

• The month ended with a high of 84 on Saturday.
• On average, the month was 8.6 degrees above normal, but the average high temperature was 11.3 degrees hotter.