On the last day of September in Austin, Texas, we may have put the 100 degree days behind us. No guarantees, but unless we have a very late heat wave, yesterday’s 100+ degree day may have set the new record to break of 90 days* of 100+ degree days in 2011.
We have also tied or broken several other records this year. We tied the record for the hottest day ever @ 112 degrees and we easily sailed past our previous record of 21 consecutive days of triple digit temperatures for Austin, to set a new record of 27 days on August 12, 2011.
While the heat wave may finally be loosening its grip on Texas, the drought goes on and the brief, but very welcome showers that have popped up around the state in the last couple of weeks, have done little to alleviate that condition. 85.75% of the state still remains in “exceptional” drought status (the highest level of drought the US Drought Monitor measures), up from 85.43% the previous week. Unless we see extended and significant rain, this extreme drought will continue and that has some communities worrying about running out of water. See our earlier blog for more on this.
The Climate Prediction Center’s (CPC) monthly outlook offers little hope for a change in the overall dry and warm weather pattern through the fall season and beyond.
Climate models are also indicating that the drier and warmer than normal weather will continue through the coming winter. By spring though, the CPC indicates an equal chance that Central Texas could return to a more normal temperature and precipitation pattern. But, before you get too excited about that, the temperature outlook for next summer is for hotter than normal weather yet again!
We continue to encourage Texans to continue to conserve energy and water where they can.
Austin has had over six times the annual average of 13.5 days of 100 degree weather this year and below are some other fun Austin triple digit degree day facts
Average date of the first 100 degree day: July 11th, this year it was May 25th
Average date of the last 100 degree day: August 20th, this year, possibly it was September 29th, but there are still three months left in the year.
Historically-the earliest 100 degree day was May 4th in 1984 and the latest 100 degree day was October 2nd in 1938
*Temperatures are for Camp Mabry which is the location our historical data is based on. Weather.com likely reports from ABIA located outside the city of Austin.
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By promoting cleaner energy, cleaner government, and cleaner air for all Texans, we hope to provide for a healthy place to live and prosper. We are Public Citizen Texas.
