In brief: An absolutely incredible spring heat wave has taken hold of the West, Central, and parts of the Mid-Atlantic this weekend shattering monthly records from coast to coast. More of it to come. In Texas? Records fell, multiple times in some cases in the Panhandle, West Texas, and near the Red River, with another surge of heat to come this week.
Record obliterating heat
I’m not going to dive too deep into this Western and Central U.S. heat wave from the last several days. I’m going to wait for some of the final numbers to be compiled and then do a bit of a recap. But I would be foolish to not at least touch on this. The reality is that this was an extraordinary event by any measure. Hundreds of records smashed daily.
When it comes to events of this scope and magnitude (breaking April records in March, for example), there are very few analogs. In recent years, the only thing really comparable in North America was probably the insane Pacific heatwave of 2021. According to coolwx.com, March 19-22 had the greatest number of hot temperature records recorded of any days since 2010. Daniel’s map above was from Saturday, with monthly hot temperature records being set from SoCal through southern Minnesota. Even on Sunday at the same time, we had numerous monthly records ongoing too, over an even wider segment of the country.
Monthly records don’t typically fall multiple times in a week over multiple locations from coast to coast. Clearly, this is an exceptionally rare event and one that is becoming more likely, more plausible, and more common in a warming climate. Dozens and dozens of additional hot temperature records will be set over the next 5 days.
For more of the day-to-day coverage on this heat event, check out Alan Gerard’s Balanced Weather.
Texas weekly outlook
As we’re trying to regularly do, here’s a look ahead at the weather across Texas for the upcoming week.
Let’s start with rain, or a lack of it.
Let’s not expect much in the way of rain. We need it. Especially in South Texas. The situation in Corpus Christi is dire, and we’re planning to do something on that over at Space City Weather, hopefully by next week. But legitimately: We need rain.
The recent record heat has not helped.
Amarillo: 98° on Saturday establishes a new all-time record for March, breaking 96° from March 1907.
Lubbock: 98° on Saturday is a new March record as well, breaking the old record set the previous day, which tied the original record set on March 11, 1989 (96°).
Midland: 99° on Sunday was a new March record breaking the old record set on Saturday which broke the previous record of 97° set on March 31, 1946.
El Paso: 96° on Sunday broke the old March record of 95° set the previous day, which broke the prior March record of 94° set on Friday, which broke the original March record of 93° set on March 22, 2017. Another chance to do it comes Thursday.
You want more? Ok then.
Abilene: After coming up one degree short on Saturday, Abilene matched their all-time March heat record on Sunday with 98°, last set on March 21, 1916.
San Angelo: They broke their record for March on Saturday by hitting 100° and then matched the previous record of 98° on Sunday. That record has stood since St. Patrick’s Day 1908.
Wichita Falls: They fell 1 degree short of the record for March on Saturday when it hit 99°, so the March 27, 1971 record of 100° still stands. They have another opportunity on Thursday.
So for West Texas, the Panhandle, and parts of North Texas this will be the March heat event of record now. And we may not be done yet. Another surge of heat arrives this week, with daily records already forecast or close to forecast across much of Texas on Thursday.
Basically, it’s a week of heat ahead.
For those keeping track of the 90 degree derby in the Texas Triangle region
Dallas: 1
Austin (Downtown): 3
San Antonio: 4
Houston (IAH): 0
High pressure will build in through the week, allowing for this heat to percolate. Friday may see a chance at 90+ or record highs in Houston ahead of a cool front that will allow for slightly more comfortable weather across the Central U.S. late this week and weekend.
Unfortunately, however, we may see the heat surge again after the weekend and heading into next week. We may see a wetter pattern return to Texas after that. Fingers crossed.