Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

This is not a drill: A cold front this week is bringing nice weather to Austin

A crowd of people walking in a park with a line of colorful flags in the background.
Gabriel C. Pérez
/
KUT
Cooler weather is on the way just in time for Weekend One of the Austin City Limits Music Festival.

Lee esta historia en español

After a summer and early fall of record-breaking heat, a shift in the weather could bring something we haven’t seen in a very long time: cooler-than-average temperatures.

The cold front, expected to arrive Wednesday evening or Thursday morning, could also bring locally heavy rain. So, watch for flooding and leaky roofs, especially if your home got hit by that last big hailstorm.

After the rain clears, temperatures are expected to stay cool. By the weekend, just in time for the start of the Austin City Limits Music Festival, daily highs may stay in the 70s, with lows in the 50s – conditions the city hasn’t seen since April.

Normal temperatures for early October in Austin are a high of 87 and a low of 66, said Bob Fogarty, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

After the summer we've had, it sounds fabulous,” he said.

Ever since last spring, we’ve been hearing that the El Niño weather pattern that has formed in the Pacific could bring a cooler and wetter-than-average fall and winter to Texas. Could this be the start of that shift?

“It is possible,” Fogarty said. “But I wouldn't stand on my soapbox and say, ‘This is it.’”

He says it’s simply too early to tell if cooler weather is here to stay – but that after this summer, “we feel like we deserve it.”

Don’t we?

If you found this reporting valuable, please consider making a donation to support it. Your gift pays for everything you find on KUT.org. Thanks for donating today.

Mose Buchele focuses on energy and environmental reporting at KUT. Got a tip? Email him at mbuchele@kut.org. Follow him on Twitter @mosebuchele.
Related Content