Summer heat in S.A. isn’t ending, while all of Bexar County withers in drought.
After suffering through a sweltering summer, region likely to see more of same in October
San Antonio shifted from summer to fall at 2:50 a.m. Monday, but the thermometer — still pushing the mid- and upper 90s every day — is ignoring that fact.
All summer long, the region was hot and dry, and it’s likely to stay that way into October.
Rainfall — virtually absent in June and July — is running about eight inches below average this year. So far, September is more of the same.
According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, all of Bexar County is now in a drought — moderate in the western portion and severe in the eastern half. Nearly threequarters of Texas is facing some level of drought, though Tropical Storm Imelda’s three feet of rain reversed that for the Houston area.
And the heat has been oppressive. August was the third-hottest month in San Antonio since recordkeeping began in 1886.
The temperature peaked last month at 103 degrees, and 14 other days were at 100 or above. The daily high average of 99.3 degrees for the month was almost two degrees warmer than August 2018 and 3.3 degrees warmer than average. The heat hasn’t quit this month. The average high in September is 88 and the average low is 67. But in the first 22 days of this month, according to National Weather Service data, the average high was 97 degrees and the average low 74.6.
“Looking at the forecast for the area, we’re going to be in the midto upper 90s for the entire week,” said Eric Platt, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service’s Austin-San Antonio forecast office. “Typically, by this time of year, we’ve seen a decent cold front move through.”
The broiling heat wasn’t confined to San Antonio. It was the hottest summer on record in the Northern Hemisphere. Globally, July was the hottest single month in 140 years of recordkeeping.
The paltry rainfall has the San Antonio Water System fielding customer complaints calls about high water bills.
To run a landscape sprinkler system uses on average 3,000 gal
lons each cycle, said Karen Guz, SAWS’ conservation director. ‘“Combine that with our tiered rates — meaning our customers will pay more per gallon as they rise into each new tier — it can result in customers receiving bills higher than they are used to,” she said. SAWS pumped about 298 million gallons a day in August — the highest use since 2010 — to meet demand.
Still, the area has so far avoided outdoor watering restrictions. On Sunday, the J-17 monitoring well of the Edwards Aquifer sat at 667.5 feet above sea level, which is 7.5 feet above the level that would trigger pumping limits.
Most years since 2006, SAWS customers have faced restrictions, which typically limit landscape watering to once a week for a certain number of hours. The longest stretch of limited watering occurred during the record drought that started in late 2010 and lasted through 2015.
Platt offered a glimmer of hope that San Antonio might finally begin to cool off in about 10 days, though he warned that forecasting that far out is uncertain.
“It’s looking like there’s a pattern change,” he said, “which could be favorable for a cold front to move down.”
San Antonio can hope.