For those dreaming of a white Christmas, arctic temperatures have arrived in Texas a little ahead of the holiday.
This system is part of a cold front moving from the north, as previously reported by The Dallas Express. The storm has pushed frigid temperatures across the United States, bringing accumulating snowfall, blustering winds, and hard freezes.
The National Weather Service (NWS) predicts subfreezing temperatures remaining in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex until Christmas Day, with temperatures dropping as low as 20 degrees.
The NWS in Fort Worth reported temperatures of 15 degrees Fahrenheit on December 22, with a wind chill of -4. Thursday night was forecast to hit 10 degrees with a wind chill as low as -8.
A wind chill and hard freeze advisory will remain in effect for the area until 9 a.m. on Friday. The organization tweeted that it expects high temperatures in the 20s region-wide on December 23.
Temperatures will begin to rise again on Christmas Day, with a high temperature of 41 degrees and a low of 30.
The NWS told The Dallas Express that the coldest recorded Christmas in the Dallas-Fort Worth area occurred in 1983, when the temperature only managed to reach 6 degrees.
While no precipitation was initially expected to fall in DFW, snow flurries were spotted across the region when the front arrived on December 22.
Is this downtown Fort Worth or Rockefeller Center??
Snow flurries are falling in parts of North Texas. ❄️Do you see snow where you are?❄️
Forecast here ➡️ https://t.co/FbwqCYXh0M#NBCDFWWeather pic.twitter.com/TcfnqkicyT— NBCDFW Weather (@NBCDFWWeather) December 22, 2022
Despite the lack of accumulation, the cold front and arctic conditions produced by it have disrupted travel across the United States, causing multiple flight delays and cancellations.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced a “historic winter storm” noting temperatures in central and western Montana dropping to the -30s and -40s in the early morning hours of December 22, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
The NWS reported on December 22 that over 200 million people in the U.S. are under a form of winter weather warning advisory, including nearly 177 million for wind chill warnings, 11 million for blizzard warnings, 65 million for winter storm warnings, and 500,000 for ice storm warnings.
The severity of the storm prompted NWS officials to offer a warning of “widespread disruptive and potentially crippling impacts across the central and eastern United States.”
The NWS advises citizens to follow cold weather cautions, limit time outdoors, and cover exterior faucets.