The cool air you felt if you went outside Monday morning? It might not be like that again in Austin for months.
That's because an unusually powerful heat wave is barreling towards Central Texas.
The National Weather Service is predicting highs of 102 on Tuesday, 104 on Wednesday and 102 again on Thursday and has issued a heat advisory through Wednesday.
Orlando Bermúdez, a forecaster with the National Weather Service, said the sudden shift in temperatures is due to “a perfect recipe” of wind patterns.
Those patterns are pushing hot air over the mountains of Northern Mexico into Texas. As that air drops in altitude in a process known as “downsloping,” it will become drier and hotter as it enters the state.
“It happens later in July. It happens in August,” Bermudez said. “But this early? That's what is making this kind of a headline.”
Hot days in May are becoming more common as greenhouse gasses, released by the burning of fossil fuels, warm the Earth's atmosphere.
Austin is no exception.
Records show that Austin has seen triple digits in May in only eight years since records started in 1898. But five of those instances happened this century.
Early heat waves are often more dangerous
When extreme heat arrives suddenly, after months of milder weather, research shows it can lead to higher incidents of heat exhaustion and stroke, and more emergency room visits.
"If you're not used to the heat, you're more susceptible to heat-related illnesses,” according to the Mayo Clinic. "The body needs time to get used to higher temperatures.”
As the temperature rises, the National Weather Service is urging people to practice “heat safety” including limiting outdoor activity, staying hydrated and taking frequent breaks if you need to be outside.
The rise in extreme temperatures over the last few decades has prompted city officials in Austin and elsewhere to create local labor protections, like mandated water breaks for construction workers. But those efforts were blocked by state lawmakers.
The city of Austin is encouraging people without access to air conditioning to use its libraries and parks and recreation facilities as cooling centers during regular operating hours. You can find a map of cooling centers below or on the city's website.
Depending on where the temperatures end up this week, Austin could meet or break its record for hottest May day ever recorded, currently 104 degrees.
Is this a preview of what's to come this summer?
Hot spring weather can set Texas up for hotter summers as well.
Spring heat dries the soil out early, allowing the ground to heat more quickly in June and July.
That super heated earth can even create what the state climatologist has called “a climate feedback loop,” discouraging rainfall and encouraging even hotter and drier weather.
This is what happened in 2023, when a cool spring was quickly replaced by one of the hottest summers in Texas history.
Despite recent rain storms, much of Texas, including Central Texas, remains in drought, leaving the earth primed to dry out quickly should uncommon heat persist.
