Below 20°F Temperatures In Houston

[Ptarmigan]

How often does Houston see below 20°F in winter. Let's start with Houston Weather Bureau from 1892 to 1969.

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Year	Month	Date	Temp
1892	12	27	19
1894	1	25	19
1894	12	28	15
1894	12	29	15
1895	2	7	11
1895	2	8	10
1895	2	16	13
1895	2	17	16
1897	1	27	19
1897	1	28	19
1899	2	12	6
1899	2	13	6
1899	2	14	10
1900	2	18	19
1905	2	15	18
1911	1	3	16
1911	1	4	18
1912	1	13	17
1918	1	12	11
1928	1	1	18
1928	1	2	16
1930	1	17	15
1930	1	18	5
1930	1	19	18
1930	1	22	15
1930	1	23	17
1933	2	7	19
1933	2	8	13
1933	2	9	15
1935	1	21	19
1935	1	22	17
1936	2	18	19
1940	1	19	10
1940	1	23	14
1949	1	30	18
1949	1	31	14
1951	1	31	19
1951	2	1	15
1951	2	2	14
1963	1	24	18

Houston Intercontinental Airport from 1969 to now.

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Year	Month	Date	Temp
1970	1	7	19
1976	1	8	19
1976	1	9	19
1976	11	30	19
1977	1	10	18
1977	1	19	18
1982	1	11	12
1982	1	14	19
1983	12	24	14
1983	12	25	11
1983	12	26	18
1983	12	30	19
1983	12	31	18
1985	1	21	16
1989	12	13	19
1989	12	16	19
1989	12	22	13
1989	12	23	7
1989	12	24	11
1990	12	24	19
1996	1	8	19

Overall Statistics (Houston WB and KIAH)

How Often We See Below 20°F
Every 2 Years

Earliest To See Below 20°F
November 30, 1976

Latest To See Below 20°F
February 18, 1900 and 1936

Overall Month To Most Likely To See Below 20°F
January

Year That Saw Most Below 20°F
1930, 1983, 1989 (Each saw 5 days of below 20°F)

Month and Year That Saw Most Below 20°F
January 1930
December 1983
December 1989

There have been a total of 61 below 20°F from 1892 to 2011. So, the law of average dictates that Houston should see below 20°F every 2 years. Interestingly, the last time KIAH saw below 20°F was in 1996. However, other locations recently have seen below 20°F, which makes me wonder if replacing the weather station at KIAH had an impact and on top of urban development, which there is more at the big airport than at Hobby Airport.

[TexasMetBlake]

This is interesting..

My co-worker found that from 2000-2008, Houston had only seen temps in the 20s three different times. In the past two winters, we've seen twenties 18 times. The past two winters have been incredibly cold. With the Pacific going into a cold phase, I suspect we'll continue to see very harsh winters here. Afterall, the Pacific is the worlds thermostat. The "hottest years on record" are strongly correlated with strong El Nino's; 1998 would be an example. So global warming, global cooling, or climate change. We haven't been this cold in a very long time and I'd be hard pressed to just blow this off as an "anomaly." That's just a nice way of saying, 'we didn't predict this.'