Summer heat: Will August bring records or relief?
AUSTIN (KXAN) - August is historically Austin's hottest month of the year, and with brand new information from NOAA's Climate Prediction Center, we're expecting this August to have no issue living up to the expectations.
While the first two months of this summer have been extraordinarily August-like, we could see this August bring heat the likes of which have never been seen before in Austin.
On average, the high temperature in August in Austin is 97.8° with the average low temperature at 75.1°. Going into this August, Austin will have experienced a total of 51 total days of triple-digit heat already this year — all of those coming before the hottest month of the year.
Unless Austin receives a substantial amount of rainfall next month, we could break the record set in 2011 of 90 days of triple-digit heat. That record, once viewed as untouchable, is now in serious jeopardy of being surpassed by 2022.
The Climate Prediction Center is forecasting this August to bring not only hotter-than-normal conditions in Central Texas but also drier-than-normal conditions — a particularly dangerous combination with the minute amount of rain Central Texas has experienced so far this summer. If August goes anything like July in terms of the lack of rainfall, you can expect fire danger to continue to increase and lake levels to continue to drop, among other consequences.
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There does however remain a glimmer of hope. During August, tropical activity in the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico typically begins to ramp up which could lead to much-needed rainfall here in Central Texas and an end to this weather pattern of oppressive heat and dryness.
Some of the best ways Central Texans can do their part in helping the community are to conserve as much water as possible and avoid doing any sort of outdoor burning that could result in the starting of a wildfire.
With additional weeks of scorching heat ahead, it's best to be as diligent as possible about staying hydrated as well as staying cool. The best way to do that is to stay in the AC and to have consistent access to clean drinking water, not just for you, but for your pets as well.