What's the hottest it's ever been in Texas?
It's actually happened TWICE.
(NEXSTAR) — Summer doesn't officially begin for a little while longer (June 21), but you may already be feeling the heat.
As KXAN News Meteorologist Nick Bannin explains, even though summer doesn't begin on the calendar until June 21 (called "astronomical summer"), temperature-wise, the summer season is set to begin June 1 and last through August 31. This is known as "meteorological summer."
"The dates of meteorological seasons, unlike astronomical ones, don’t fluctuate each year and instead include whole months in groups of three," says Bannin. "This makes it easier to compare the same season with previous years, since they all start and end at the same time."
In Texas, August is typically the hottest month. But you can guarantee there will be some scorchers before then.
But have you ever wondered: What was the hottest temperature ever recorded in Texas?
The hottest maximum temperature ever recorded in Texas occurred twice: First on August 12, 1936, in Seymour, northwest of Dallas, and again on June 28, 1994, in Monahans, a city near Odessa, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The recorded high that day was 120° — that's hotter than the 113° August average for Furnace Creek in Death Valley.
Even though 120° is hot as heck, it's still nowhere near as hot as the highest recorded in the U.S. — that record belongs to Greenland Ranch, California, where the temperature hit 134° back on July 10, 1913.