Climate reading

Dallas and the Chinese solar calendar

In Dallas, the first freeze typically comes November 25, 33 days after the calendar's Frost's Descent begins on October 23. The last freeze is typically over by March 8, and Dallas gets 261 days a year without one. Where the calendar and your weather disagree, go by your weather.

The weather station behind this page

Weather station	DFW Intl, TX
Station ID	USW00003927
Days without a freeze, per year	261
Typical first freeze	November 25
Typical last freeze	March 8
Rain and heat	r = -0.4 (run opposite)
Years averaged	1991–2020

Official NOAA averages for 1991–2020 at this station: a typical year, not a forecast.

Rain and heat across the whole year

Here the rainy weeks tend to be the cooler weeks, the reverse of where the calendar comes from, so its advice for muggy, hot-and-wet weather doesn't fit Dallas. On a scale from −1 (opposite) to 1 (perfectly together), Dallas scores -0.4 and the calendar's home region 0.88.

Where the calendar is most wrong about Dallas

These four two-week stretches are where the calendar's names or advice sit furthest from Dallas's thirty-year record.

Frost's Descent 霜降from 2026-10-23

The old calendar's three signs for these weeks, one per five days: 豺祭兽 · 草木黄落 · 蛰虫咸俯

The Su Wen, part of the Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic, calls fall the season of containment and levelling (容平). Go to bed early and get up early, it says, up with the rooster. That keeps you in step with fall. Go against it, the text warns, and the lungs suffer, showing up in winter as diarrhea with undigested food.

Average, low, high	62.3°F / 51.8°F / 72.8°F
Days with measurable rain	22.9%
Days at or below freezing	0.5
Daylight	11h 03m (-29 min from two weeks ago)

Where the calendar comes from, these weeks average about 53.4°F. At DFW Intl, TX: 62.3°F, 8.9°F warmer.
'Frost's Descent' names what people in the Yellow River valley saw in nature, not a temperature. At DFW Intl, TX, half of all years have had their first freeze by November 25, 33 days after these weeks begin; they usually bring about 0.5 freezing days.
The fastest-cooling stretch of the year: 5.9°F cooler than the two weeks before.

White Dew 白露from 2026-09-07

The old calendar's three signs for these weeks, one per five days: 鸿雁来 · 元鸟归 · 群鸟养羞

The fall advice above covers these weeks too.

Average, low, high	78.9°F / 69.0°F / 88.9°F
Days with measurable rain	17.7%
Days at or below freezing	0.0
Daylight	12h 37m (-30 min from two weeks ago)

Where the calendar comes from, these weeks average about 68.5°F. At DFW Intl, TX: 78.9°F, 10.4°F warmer.
'White Dew' names what people in the Yellow River valley saw in nature, not a temperature. At DFW Intl, TX, half of all years have had their first freeze by November 25, 79 days after these weeks begin; they usually bring about 0.0 freezing days.

Grain Buds 小满from 2026-05-21

The old calendar's three signs for these weeks, one per five days: 苦菜秀 · 靡草死 · 麦秋至

The Su Wen calls summer the season of flourishing (蕃秀). Go to bed later and get up early, it says, and don't resent the long days. That keeps you in step with summer. Go against it, the text warns, and the heart suffers, showing up in fall as fevers that come and go.

Average, low, high	77.8°F / 68.3°F / 87.4°F
Days with measurable rain	27.3%
Days at or below freezing	0.0
Daylight	13h 58m (+24 min from two weeks ago)

Where the calendar comes from, these weeks average about 72.3°F. At DFW Intl, TX: 77.8°F, 5.5°F warmer.
The fastest-warming stretch of the year: 4.9°F warmer than the two weeks before.

Qi stagnation (energy that gets stuck, often felt as low spirits) traditionally finds gray, rainy stretches hard. Rain falls on 27.3% of days in this stretch, against 21.7% across Dallas's year.

Major Cold 大寒from 2026-01-20

The old calendar's three signs for these weeks, one per five days: 鸡乳 · 征鸟厉疾 · 水泽腹坚

The Su Wen calls winter the season of closing and storing (閉藏). Go to bed early and get up late, once the sun is up; stay warm without sweating. That keeps you in step with winter. Go against it, the text warns, and the kidneys suffer, showing up in spring as weakness and collapse (痿厥).

Average, low, high	47.2°F / 36.7°F / 57.7°F
Days with measurable rain	22.1%
Days at or below freezing	4.7
Daylight	10h 17m (+14 min from two weeks ago)

Where the calendar comes from, these weeks average about 34.0°F. At DFW Intl, TX: 47.2°F, 13.2°F warmer.
'Major Cold' names what people in the Yellow River valley saw in nature, not a temperature. At DFW Intl, TX, the last freeze of spring typically doesn't clear until March 8, still 47 days away; these weeks usually bring about 4.7 freezing days.

Yang deficiency (running low on the body's warmth) traditionally finds winter hard. Here the average low this stretch is 36.7°F.

All twenty-four two-week stretches in Dallas

Two weeks		Begins	Avg °F	Rainy days %	Freezing days	vs. calendar °F
Minor Cold	小寒	2026-01-05	45.9	22.1	5.1	+12.8
Major Cold	大寒	2026-01-20	47.2	22.1	4.7	+13.2
Start of Spring	立春	2026-02-04	49.6	23.3	3.0	+11.3
Rain Water	雨水	2026-02-18	52.9	25.3	2.8	+10.1
Awakening of Insects	惊蛰	2026-03-05	57.1	25.4	0.9	+9.1
Spring Equinox	春分	2026-03-20	61.4	23.6	0.7	+7.6
Pure Brightness	清明	2026-04-05	64.9	23.7	0.0	+6.1
Grain Rain	谷雨	2026-04-20	68.3	26.5	0.0	+3.7
Start of Summer	立夏	2026-05-05	72.9	28.0	0.0	+5.3
Grain Buds	小满	2026-05-21	77.8	27.3	0.0	+5.5
Grain in Ear	芒种	2026-06-05	81.5	24.9	0.0	+5.0
Summer Solstice	夏至	2026-06-21	83.8	20.4	0.0	+4.8
Minor Heat	小暑	2026-07-07	85.6	15.1	0.0	+5.5
Major Heat	大暑	2026-07-23	86.9	13.7	0.0	+5.6
Start of Autumn	立秋	2026-08-07	86.2	16.6	0.0	+7.9
End of Heat	处暑	2026-08-23	83.3	18.4	0.0	+8.5
White Dew	白露	2026-09-07	78.9	17.7	0.0	+10.4
Autumn Equinox	秋分	2026-09-23	73.8	18.0	0.0	+9.9
Cold Dew	寒露	2026-10-08	68.2	21.6	0.0	+9.2
Frost's Descent	霜降	2026-10-23	62.3	22.9	0.5	+8.9
Start of Winter	立冬	2026-11-07	56.8	21.2	1.1	+10.2
Minor Snow	小雪	2026-11-22	52.0	20.8	2.3	+11.4
Major Snow	大雪	2026-12-07	48.3	21.2	3.9	+12.0
Winter Solstice	冬至	2026-12-22	46.1	21.6	4.0	+12.3

‘vs. calendar’ is how much warmer (+) or cooler (−) each stretch runs here than where the calendar comes from. Rain figures count rainy days, not inches.

The body-type notes follow traditional Chinese medicine as set out in a national standard in China. Tying them to this city's weather is a traditional association, not a finding from modern research. Which type goes with which stretch is our own arrangement: each is matched to the time of year the standard says it finds hard, or, for rain, to the rainiest of the four when it's wetter than Dallas's year as a whole. Weather doesn't decide anyone's body type. To find yours, take the assessment.

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How Dallas compares with the other thirteen

Dallas has 261 frost-free days a year, more than 8 of the other cities here. That's 110 more than Denver, which has the fewest. It's 104 fewer than San Francisco, which has the most.

Rain falls on 21.7% of days here over a year. Phoenix is the driest of the fourteen at 9.2% and Seattle the wettest at 43.1%, which puts Dallas at the dry end.

The hottest two weeks here are Major Heat, with an average high of 97.0°F and rain on 13.7% of days: hot and dry. One of the fourteen gets hotter at its peak: Phoenix.

The other thirteen cities

All fourteen cities side by side

Where this comes from

The thirty-year averages are NOAA's official 1991–2020 figures, one station per city, read straight from NOAA's records by our own program. Freezing days for each two-week stretch are estimated from NOAA's monthly counts. Figures for where the calendar comes from are based on weather-station measurements and reanalysis data from the Yellow River valley in northern China, where the calendar's names come from. The seasonal advice comes from the Su Wen, in our own translation.