We have made it over the halfway point in the month of August and some welcome changes are in store for the upcoming weekend.  August is typically one of our drier months, and this August so far has lived up to its reputation.  Officially we have picked up 0.03″ of rainfall at Camp Mabry (a little less than the thickness of a dime).  The good news is a somewhat early season weather shift in the jet will allow for better rain chances and some cooler weather this weekend.   Also, starting today the normal high temperature begins to fall, as yesterday it was 98 and today it is 97.  The chart below shows the normal highs for the entire month of August.  We start the month at 97, climb to 98 by the 2nd, and stay there until the 16th.  The 2nd half of the month starts to see the normal high drop by a few degrees.   I should note this doesn’t mean that we cant still see really hot temps.  In fact the 2 hottest temps ever recorded in Austin occurred when the normal high temperature was 96 or below.

The forecast calls for a moderation of temps at night as well over the next few days.  This month so far we have had a few nights were we almost recorded record high low temps.  Yes, records are kept for the warmest nights (as well as the coldest afternoon highs).  When I was looking at the data for August, I noticed that not only was 2011 crazy hot in the afternoons, but the nights were as well.  Last August we set 11 daily records for the warmest overnight lows, with the warmest being August 11, 2011, with a low of 82.   The warmest overnight low recorded in Austin occurred before any of us were around back on July 28, 1898 when the low only hit 85!!

Ok, a few more stats to quiz your friends on this weekend when you are out at the lake, or while sharing an umbrella during a shower…..

Excluding today, we have had

- 10 days in a row of 100+ degree heat

- 36 days in a row of 90+ degree heat

- 93 days in a row of 80+ degree heat

- 31 straight days with temps not falling below 70

Here are some other stats on the number of times we have seen high temps at or above a certain number