On Wednesday, my blog looked back at just how many times our month of June has actually reached 100° or higher. I found that since 1990, about one third of the time this happens, but with great variability: those eight Junes ranged from one day of 100+ to as many as seven.
This begged the question from our newest anchor, KPRC 2′s Candace Burns “If June has 100-degree temperatures, does that mean the rest of the summer has even more?”
So this blog takes a look at that question. The answer, in a word, is “maybe.” Here’s a look and, don’t worry, I made a chart.
In 1990, we had one June day of 100° followed by a July with none and an August with six and none in September. So, the single day in June seemed to be a true exception and the summer as a whole was relatively normal.
In 1998, only two days reached 100+ in June, then 14 in July and eight in August. But those days that didn’t reach 100 in July and August were very close--a lot of upper 90s--and even September reached 99°. That year was an exceptionally hot year.
2006 came in with a single 100 day in June followed by none the rest of the summer!
2009 brought in the record seven days in a row in June of 100+ temps, with another to follow -- four in July and six in August.
2011 was the bear year. The drought. The most horrible year in the world. Six days in June hit 100+, four in July, followed by 30 in August. Yep, every day but one day in the month of August reached 100 degrees or higher (setting the 109° record). Even September had 5 days of 100+ temps.
2012 showed up similar to 2006 - three days in June reached 100 with none after that.
2013 also was a pretty “light” year with two days of June hundreds, none in July and three in August.
Last year, 2022 sparked up with five June days at 100+, followed by 13 in July and four in August.
Keep in mind, we still haven’t officially hit 100° this year, but yesterday was 98° so we’re on our way. What to make of all this? Well, it’s crazy to cherry pick years and temps because so many factors go into our climate--you’d really have to analyze the whole atmosphere of each summer to come up with an idea and with climate warming you’d still be challenged to get a perfect answer.
But Candace asked, so, generally speaking, if we have more than five days hitting 100 in June, we’re likely to have a very hot July and August and even September months. It would seem the trend is set and the upper-level climate features causing the heat are parked pretty well and not moving anytime soon. At five or fewer, we seem to have a chance at staying a bit cooler but 1998 toasted us regardless! And keep in mind that a Texas tropical storm can change it all.
Here’s my chart for easy reference:
Stay safe this weekend. Regardless of the heat, it IS the weekend!
Frank
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