FORECAST: 35 DAYS OF 100-DEGREE SUMMER HEAT
Central Texas can expect a moderately hot summer with 25 to 35 days of triple-digit temperatures, according to forecasts offered Wednesday by Lower Colorado River Authority meteorologist Bob Rose.
National Weather Service records going back to the 1890s show that Austin has averaged around 14 days of 100-degree weather. Last year, the warmest on record, saw 42 days when temperatures hit 100 degrees or higher. The record number of triple-digit days, 90, came in 2011.
Rose, who presented his summer forecast to fellow meteorologists at LCRA’s headquarters off Lake Austin, anticipates temperatures averaging 1 to 2 degrees warmer than normal from late spring through summer, with more extreme heat conditions expected in the western U.S.
The LCRA pays special attention to the region’s climate as part of its stewardship of the Highland Lakes, a critical water source for Central Texas.
This year’s rainfall, a crucial factor in replenishing the reservoirs, could be close to the 30-year normal levels that meteorologists use as a climate benchmark, Rose said. Rain patterns in the summer will be typical, a combination of moisture from the Gulf of Mexico and cold fronts from the north to produce scattered showers, Rose said. The weather will trend wetter in the fall.
Even with last week’s storms, the rainfall so far in May has been unimpressive, but June could bring more wet weather ahead of a drier July and August, Rose said.
Any rain that Central Texas does see won’t be enough to fill the Highland Lakes, barring a tropical storm that barrels to our area.
“We would need a significant rain event (producing) about 4 to 5 inches of rain to see that happen,” Rose said. “Scattered rains here and there won’t do much.”
Heading into the summer months, rain in the Hill Country, which feeds lakes Buchanan and Travis, is still about 2 to 4 inches below what is normal, Rose said.
The storms on May 4 dropped a record-setting 3.65 inches in Austin and soaked much of Central Texas.
“It kind of caught us up,” Rose said, but soil moisture is still below normal. “That will have some effect, especially on temperatures as we go into the summer season.”
Much of Travis and Williamson counties are still experiencing moderate drought conditions, owing to lower rainfall amounts in 2017, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. Travis County is under a burn ban, although Williamson
Travis County jurors weighing the sentence for Tyler Harrell, who was found guilty of aggravated assault this week in the shooting of an Austin police officer, heard from the SWAT officer Harrell wounded.
Officer James Pittman, the lone person injured in the 2016 drug raid, limped into the courtroom Wednesday and testified that he struggles to play with his children and cannot run. He said he needs a knee replacement, but that doctors told him he’s too young to get one.
He appeared to take issue with the jury returning a not-guilty verdict on the most serious charge, attempted capital murder of a police officer. Harrell could have gotten up to life in prison, if convicted of that charge. Now Harrell faces up to 20 years on the aggravated assault charge, but could get probation.
“Is it worth it putting my life on the line if that’s what the community