Days after shattering the record for the most consecutive days that have broken 100 degrees in San Antonio, the city has blasted through another heat record: the most days in a single year to break 100.
That record, last set in 2009 at 59 days, was tied Saturday and bested Sunday when the National Weather Service posted a temperature of 100 degrees at 12:51 at the San Antonio International Airport.
New heat records are expected to continue, with temperatures topping 100 degrees in the forecast for several days next week, according to the weather service.
While San Antonio saw a slight reprieve Tuesday and Wednesday as showers were pushed into the area by Tropical Storm Harold, the high-pressure weather system bearing down on the Southwest still has yet to move on.
“The cause of this heat is just persistent high pressure in the upper levels of the atmosphere,” said Eric Platt, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service. “Our weather patterns stay fairly active unless we get a tropical storm moving through the area like we did last week.”
Platt said San Antonio may see another “cold front” move into the area Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday that could bring temperatures down into the 90s, but Platt noted that respite isn’t expected to last for long.
While the U.S. has moved into the El Niño weather pattern, which typically brings with it a wet and cold winter across the Southern United States, the effects of El Niño aren’t usually felt until late fall or early winter, Platt said.
“We’re still in August,” Platt said. “We still have ways to go before temperatures start coming down.”
Last summer, San Antonio’s hottest on record thus far by average temperature per month, came close to tying the record of days to break the century mark at 58. However, it fell short when only seven days broke 100 last August.
June 2022 holds the city’s record for the hottest June on record, with an average of 87.7 degrees — well above this past June’s 86 degrees, which made it only the seventh hottest on record.
July 2022 was also San Antonio’s hottest on record, with an average temperature of 89.8 degrees compared to this past July’s average of 89.4 degrees, which now is San Antonio’s second-hottest July on record.
It’s too early to tell if August will be San Antonio’s new hottest August on record — that title is currently held by August 2011 at an average temperature of 101.5 degrees — but so far this month has seen 24 days break 100, so it’s definitely possible.
