You may have heard people say it. You may have even said it yourself: This summer has been pretty mild by Austin standards, a welcome break from the oppressive heat we’ve come to expect.
But, with the end of August fast approaching, the numbers tell a more complicated story.
The fact is we are wrapping up yet another unusually warm summer compared to historical data. It just felt better because the last few summers have been even hotter.
How much hotter?
Meteorologists measure summer June 1st through August 31st.
According to records going back to 1898, the summer of 2024 was Austin’s seventh hottest ever recorded in terms of average temperature. It gave us 30 triple-digit days, including a doozy of an August heat wave that topped off at 109 degrees.
The previous two summers were even worse.
The summer of 2023 brought 69 triple-digit days (there were 80 total for that year) and ended up being the second hottest ever recorded.
The summer of 2022 had been the second hottest on record until then. That summer, we had 67 triple-digit days, 68 for the year.
The summer of 2022 now ranks as our third hottest on record.
In fact, of the five summers before this one, only one of them — the summer of 2021 — does not rank within the top 10 hottest recorded in Austin.
That’s probably one reason this summer may have felt like a welcome respite. It was still unusually hot; it just wasn't apocalyptically so.
2011 remains Austin's hottest summer, and year, by most metrics.
How this summer stacks up
With a few days left in August, the summer of 2025 looks like it will qualify as the 25th or 26th warmest when it comes to average temperature.
But there are other ways to slice the data.
According to meteorologist Mack Morris with the National Weather Service in New Braunfels, this summer will likely be the 39th warmest when it comes to the average daily high temperatures.
In fact, we went the whole month of July without hitting triple digits, a rare occasion in Austin of late.
But this summer will rank around the 16th warmest when you look at average low temperatures. That shows how things didn’t cool off very much at night, likely thanks to the high humidity from June and July rains.
As far as triple digits go, we've had 16 so far this year. Two of those were in May — before summer even started.
That’s more triple-digit days than the historical average.
It’s safe to say that for most of the 1900s, this would have been considered a hotter than normal summer. But climate change is changing our perception of what extreme weather even is.
Wondering about the fall?
Weather Service forecasters say the next couple weeks may deliver some below average temperatures.
But the longterm forecast is showing slight chances of warmer than average weather into the winter.
