3/1 Texas Weather 6 PM: 57° Above Normal

Good evening. Texas. I'm Aaron Jolly. Eighty four degrees. In early March. Let that sink in while you're sitting on the porch tonight. A massive high pressure ridge has planted itself over Texas like it owns the place. It's pulling warm Gulf air straight up through the state, pushing temperatures a full 57 degrees above normal. and honestly? It feels more like late May than the first day of March. In the next 24 hours. Down in South Texas, you caught the worst of the heat today. Highs hit 88 degrees with southeast winds gusting to 28 miles an hour. That combo of warmth, wind. and bone dry brush has fire weather conditions cranked up across the Rio Grande Plains. If you're anywhere near open land tonight, be careful with anything that sparks. Slide north into Central Texas and you topped out around 84 degrees under blue skies. Clouds creep in overnight with lows settling near 63. Still warm enough to sleep with the windows cracked. Over on the Gulf Coast, you saw 80 degrees today. Patchy fog rolls in after midnight, so give yourself extra time for that Monday morning drive. Now up in North Texas. Things get interesting. You hit 81 degrees, but a cold front is sneaking down from Oklahoma tonight. It stalls near the Red River. If you're north of Highway 380, keep an eye on the sky. Isolated storms could clip your area this evening. Looking ahead. Monday stays warm and breezy everywhere. Then Wednesday, that ridge finally loosens its grip. Rain chances return and stick around through Friday. The real payoff? Next weekend brings our best shot at widespread rain and an actual cold front. Quick history lesson. On this date in 2012, fifteen tornadoes ripped through North Texas. Severe weather season is knocking. We're gaining almost two minutes of daylight each day now. Sunrise tomorrow at 6:58, sunset at 6:31. I'll be watching that front all night. See you tomorrow with the update. For the extended outlook, check the latest forecast as confidence improves. That's your forecast — we'll be back tomorrow.