Heat Advisory in North Texas through 8 p.m. Friday, Tarrant County issued burn ban
NORTH TEXAS (CBSNewsTexas.com) - For the first time this work week, there is no Excessive Heat Warning for the next day. Because of some additional cloud cover and a slight reduction in dewpoints, there is a Heat Advisory in place Friday.
Please take caution if outside tomorrow from mid-day to the early evening. Take frequent breaks, drink plenty of water and avoid direct sunlight the best you can.
We shift from a warning to an advisory since we are forecasting slightly lower air temperatures and feel-like temperatures.
It's been the hottest week so far this year, including Tuesday's 108°. The hottest day all summer last year was 109°.
We are a little more than halfway through the summer now. Thursday made the 14th time this warm season DFW hit 100° or higher (the average is 20).
By this date last year we had seven more - the highest in our 124-year record for this point. But our current pace is close to the years 2011 and 1980, the two hottest summers on record. There is only one other year (1998) that logged more than 14 days by this date.
Why does this matter? You see, we get lots more 100° days at DFW the second half of the summer. Meteorologist Jeef Ray totaled all the 100°+ days in our record for the first half of summer and compared it to the second half. Not even close to even.
Here is some good news. For the third weekend in a row, we get a little relief from the heat. A weak cold front sinks down from the north and brings a small chance of rain on Saturday along with a cooler north wind.
A good rain from this looks limited to a couple of counties, mostly likely to the NW of the Metroplex (we'll see). We could use the rain! This is driest start to summer in over 40 years. You have to go back to 1980 to find just 1.25" total rainfall by mid-summer.
You might have heard about 1980. That was the hottest summer on record at DFW until we hit the monster hot of 2011 (a total of 71 days of 100 or above, the most ever in a year).
After the weekend and a couple of days below triple-digit highs, we are right back to a run of 100s. This one looks to last a little longer, likely all the way to the end of the month.
With the hot and dry conditions, we are expecting more elevated fire risk. Tarrant County is now on the Burn Ban List as of Thursday night.
As you have likely heard, the United States and the globe are currently in the midst of our hottest year ever recorded. Here is a graph that shows a significant increase over all years since 1979 for the United States (source: NOAA).
There is no reason to believe that Texas will find any relief in the next month. While some cooler weather is forecast for the Central Plains, we have a likelihood of above-normal temperatures.
You should have a 45-day plan that includes access to a pool.