State climatologist: Texas had hottest December since 1889

COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) — The Texas state climatologist says last month was the hottest Texas December since at least 1889. In a Texas A&M University news release issued Monday, John Nielsen-Gammon says temperatures from Dallas through Abilene to Del Rio averaged 5 to 9 degrees above normal. Nielsen-Gammon, who is the school’s regents professor of atmospheric sciences, says Amarillo temperatures would have been normal for Dallas. Dallas got Corpus Christi’s normal temperatures, and Austin got Brownsville’s normal temperatures. Nielsen-Gammon says last month will also likely prove to have been the warmest Texas winter month on record. February 2017 currently holds that distinction.