Technically, summer starts today , but Central Texas has been scorched by hot temperatures in a record-breaking spring.
This year had the hottest and 10th -driest March to May on record in Austin, according to measurements by the National Weather Service at Camp Mabry.
There has been no relief in June, as record daily highs have either been tied or broken at least nine times at Mabry since June 1, and 11 times at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport. Temperatures in June have been 7.6 degrees above average, suggesting the record-setting hotness will continue.
If Central Texas has felt to you like an oven, you're not imagining things: The temperatures have turned up to a low bake.
Meanwhile, the region continues to be parched.
Mabry has gone 30 days without measurable rain. More broadly, the period of October 2010 through May is the second-driest on record since 1856 , with only 8.96 inches recorded.
Compounding the problem, an unusually windy spring is increasing evaporation from soils and lakes, even as it makes the high temperatures feel slightly more bearable.
According to the National Weather Service, wind speed has been about 30 percent higher than average during the months of April, May and June. This June, for example, the average wind speed has been 10.3 mph; over the past 40 years it averaged 8.2 mph, according to the National Weather Service.
The reasons for the windy conditions are both horizontal and vertical. A dome of high pressure has hovered above Austin this spring, and low pressure systems moving to the north have drawn steady winds off the Gulf of Mexico. Meanwhile, because of unrelenting dry, hot ground conditions, the warm air has been rising unabated, bringing stronger air currents from higher in the atmosphere down toward the ground.
"Usually it's windy in the afternoon, when temperatures are hottest," said Joe Baskin , a forecaster with the National Weather Service. "But it has been hot all day long for weeks."
This week could offer the best chance for seasonable temperatures, as a low pressure system could move to the south and create some instability, Baskin said. High temperatures through Thursday could fall to the mid-90s, and chances for precipitation are as high as 30 percent, Baskin said.