Winter officially begins on Saturday, Dec. 21, but Oncor begins preparing for the colder months well before then. 

In addition to working diligently to prepare our facilities and equipment for winter, Oncor also closely monitors both short-term and seasonal weather and forecast data.

Oncor utilizes an in-house meteorologist and a weather monitoring service year-round. Both resources allow Oncor to remain prepared to respond to potential weather impacts as they threaten our service area.

Seasonal outlooks and forecasts, provided by NOAA, take into account several factors. One of the most significant factors is the presence of El Niño or La Niña. These are climate patterns that can affect large-scale weather patterns over North America.

By the start of the 2024-2025 winter season, there is a chance for La Niña to develop. La Niña can result in more northerly storm tracks over North America, which generally creates drier and warmer weather across the southern half of the United States, including Texas.

The emergence of La Niña this winter appears to have had an effect on NOAA’s seasonal outlooks, with both warmer and drier conditions expected for Texas.

Winter Temperature Outlook

Across Texas, there’s a 33-60 percent chance that temperatures will be warmer than average this winter.

What is considered average? That varies slightly across the state. Below are the average winter temperatures for several locations in Oncor’s service area. 

For example, Waco has a 40-50 percent chance to see an average temperature in January 2025 higher than 47 degrees.

Winter Precipitation Outlook

A majority of Texas has a 40-60 percent chance to see drier than average weather this winter. Just like with temperatures, what’s average does vary across different regions of the state.

Based on the below image, which shows average winter precipitation across several cities, the DFW area has a 40-50 percent chance to see less than 2.5 inches of precipitation in January 2025. 

It’s important to note that seasonal forecasts consider the weather over three months. Certain days out of those three months may be cold and rainy, even though the overall seasonal forecast leans warm and dry.

While it is impossible to know if or when a winter storm may affect the state, our customers can rest assured Oncor is well prepared to respond to any winter weather impacts.

We encourage our customers to monitor their local forecasts throughout the winter and take time to ensure their home is prepared for the colder months.

This information is provided by Oncor’s in-house meteorologist , Kaiti Blake. Kaiti is an AMS certified broadcast meteorologist with more than 9 years of forecast & broadcast experience.