Current:Home > NewsTexas Cities Set Temperature Records in Unremitting Heat Wave -AssetScope
Texas Cities Set Temperature Records in Unremitting Heat Wave
View
Date:2025-04-12 07:54:34
A searing heat wave has pushed temperatures to record highs in recent days in several cities in South and West Texas, prompting health advisories and pleas for energy conservation.
Readings in Laredo, Del Rio, San Angelo and Junction were the highest ever recorded, according to the National Weather Service.
Corpus Christi logged an unprecedented 125 degree heat index—a combined measurement of temperature and humidity—on Saturday, said Liz Sommerville, the service’s lead forecaster there. And readings at six of 20 monitoring stations in Texas on Tuesday tied or exceeded the highest temperatures ever recorded on June 20, according to data compiled by the Southeast Regional Climate Center.
The duration of the heat wave is straining utility infrastructure and drawing attention to the need for heat mitigation strategies for vulnerable populations. Sommerville said the extreme heat was expected to continue “for the foreseeable future, for at least the next couple of weeks.”
The record heat stretched from the Pecos River Valley in the west to the Rio Grande in the south, and into Mexico. John Nielsen-Gammon, the state climatologist, attributed it to a range of factors, including near-record ocean temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico, a high pressure system that is trapping heat over Texas, and the inexorable reality of climate change.
“Texas is running about 2 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than it did during the 20th century,” Nielsen-Gammon said. “So if you’re close to a temperature record, that will put it over the edge.”
“It’s been close to the hottest, if not the hottest June so far for South Texas,” he added.
In 2021, a report by Nielsen-Gammon’s office noted that “extreme heat has recently become more frequent and more severe” in Texas. It projected that by 2036, the number of 100-degree days in Texas would be nearly double what it was between 2001 and 2020.
“This would make a typical year around 2036 warmer than all but the absolute warmest year experienced in Texas during 1895-2020,” the report said.
On Wednesday, the region around Corpus Christi entered its ninth consecutive day under an “excessive heat warning,” which is triggered by index values above 115 degrees. In contrast, the area logged just 10 total days of excessive heat warnings between 2017 and 2022, Sommerville said.
Temperatures in Del Rio, on the Rio Grande, hit 113 on Tuesday, exceeding the previous record of 112 measured in July 2020 and June 1988, while San Angelo posted a record 114 degrees, toppling the previous high of 111 set in 1960.
‘Nobody Wants to Be Outside’’
Junction, Texas, reported a temperature record of 111 degrees on Friday, surpassing the highs reached in July 2022 and July 2018, according to Matt Groh, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in San Angelo. On Tuesday afternoon it hit 110 degrees, the second-highest temperature on record. “People need to take heat safety precautions,” Groh said.
The temperature in Laredo reached 115 degrees on Monday, tying the figure recorded in May 1927, June 1942 and September 1985.
“It’s been pretty crazy,” said Martin Castro, watershed science director for the Rio Grande International Science Center in Laredo, noting that his car thermometer read 113 degrees as he spoke. “Nobody wants to be outside. Nobody is out walking on the sidewalk.”
The high temperatures stress Laredo’s energy infrastructure, he said, and disproportionately affect vulnerable populations like the elderly, children, and families with no central air conditioning or who must walk to stores or to work because they lack transportation.
Castro said the Rio Grande International Study Center was working on heat mitigation strategies for Laredo and was recently awarded a grant through the White House’s Justice40 initiative to plant trees to offset the city’s urban heat island effect, a phenomenon linked to excess pavement and too little greenery.
Castro praised such federal programs and suggested that the state, with its anticipated record $32.7 billion budget surplus, should offer a similar initiative.
“But that’s a long stretch, because this state and climate change don’t really work,” he said, referring to political resistance to reining in the state’s fossil fuel emissions.
Meanwhile, the coping continues.
On Tuesday, the state’s electrical grid operator issued a request for voluntary energy conservation as power demand hit an unprecedented 79,304 megawatts for June, approaching the all-time high of 80,148 megawatts set last July. All government agencies have been asked to take steps to reduce energy use at their facilities.
veryGood! (3922)
Related
- Civic engagement nonprofits say democracy needs support in between big elections. Do funders agree?
- Severe flooding from glacier outburst damages over 100 homes in Alaska's capital
- NCAA President Charlie Baker would be 'shocked' if women's tournament revenue units isn't passed
- Olympic women's basketball bracket: Schedule, results, Team USA's path to gold
- Trump suggestion that Egypt, Jordan absorb Palestinians from Gaza draws rejections, confusion
- Olympic disqualification of gold medal hopeful exposes 'dark side' of women's wrestling
- A New York Appellate Court Rejects a Broad Application of the State’s Green Amendment
- Man charged with murder in death of beloved Detroit-area neurosurgeon
- Pressure on a veteran and senator shows what’s next for those who oppose Trump
- USA women's basketball live updates at Olympics: Start time vs Nigeria, how to watch
Ranking
- Krispy Kreme offers a free dozen Grinch green doughnuts: When to get the deal
- Everything Simone Biles did at the Paris Olympics was amplified. She thrived in the spotlight
- Noah Lyles earns chance to accomplish sprint double after advancing to 200-meter final
- BTS member Suga says sorry for drunk driving on e-scooter: 'I apologize to everyone'
- Paris Hilton, Nicole Richie return for an 'Encore,' reminisce about 'The Simple Life'
- 'Stranger Things' prequel 'The First Shadow' is headed to Broadway
- Olympic men's basketball bracket: Results of the 5x5 tournament
- A balloon, a brief flicker of power, then disruption of water service for thousands in New Orleans
Recommendation
NHL in ASL returns, delivering American Sign Language analysis for Deaf community at Winter Classic
British golfer Charley Hull blames injury, not lack of cigarettes, for poor Olympic start
Majority of Americans say democracy is on the ballot this fall but differ on threat, AP poll finds
Kehlani Responds to Hurtful Accusation She’s in a Cult
Sonya Massey's father decries possible release of former deputy charged with her death
'I'm a monster': Utah man set for execution says he makes no excuses but wants mercy
Euphoria's Hunter Schafer Says Ex Dominic Fike Cheated on Her Before Breakup
In a 2020 flashback, Georgia’s GOP-aligned election board wants to reinvestigate election results