Large numbers of monarch butterflies have been seen moving through North Texas recently. They are migrating south for the winter, heading to Central Mexico.
NBC 5 viewer Tina Hargrove shared video of butterflies stopping off in the flowering bushes of her front flowerbed in Benbrook. She says they've been there "everyday for the last two weeks."
It’s possible to see greater numbers of these butterflies directly behind cold fronts. The cold fronts bring with them a north wind that the butterflies use to help them fly south.
The butterflies began their migration south in early fall starting in the Northern United States. They reach Mexico by December and spend the winter there.
When the butterflies return to the Northern United States, it take about five generations to make it that far north. Each generation of butterfly lasts from three to five weeks.
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The trip south is made by stronger butterflies that can make the entire trip in one generation that can live as long as eight months.
