AUSTIN, Texas -- It might be slow but temperatures are finally dropping in what has been the fifth longest heat wave in Austin history. Wednesday's high of 101 marked our "coolest" in 15 days, bringing the tally up to 17 days in a row of 100+ heat. So far this year, we've see 30 triple digit days.
- 96-100 to close out week
- Some of the hottest conditions
- Slight chance of rain expected
The forecast calls for highs around 96-100 to close out the week, with a heat index topping out around 105.
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What's changed? All week, we've watched the high pressure "heat dome" move west, taking Texas out of the direct core of hottest conditions. That's the primary reason our temps have slowly dropped.
At the same time, quite a bit of moisture has been gathering in the Gulf of Mexico and, at least for coastal communities, it's amounted to rain nearly each afternoon in the past week. It looks like more of this moisture could surge all the way up to the Cap City, if we're lucky, fueling some rain. And we need it! It's been 52 days since the Austin Airport picked up one tenth of an inch or better.
Our in-house Futurecast model shows some hit-or-miss showers & storms coming up from the coast during the afternoon hours through Saturday. We'll give it a 20 percent rain/storm chance Friday through Sunday.
By the second half of the weekend, high pressure is expected to build quickly back over the Lone Star State and that will probably make it a few degrees hotter.
Next week, the pattern looks to shift again and some notably cooler air could make it into Central Texas by the end of the week, arriving just in time to bring temps back down to near normal for Labor Day weekend. Of course, there's still a lot of time for that part of the forecast to change, so stay tuned!
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Enjoy the weather!
--Chief Meteorologist Burton Fitzsimmons (@Burton_Spectrum)