Is this the hottest summer in North Texas? Weather service records may surprise you
Excessive hot and dry conditions have plagued Dallas-Fort Worth since late June and 100-degree days are still in the forecast for the rest of the week.
This summer is one of the hottest North Texas has felt in a while, making the winter freeze of late January and early February seem like a distant memory.
For some Texans, this year’s relentless triple digit heat days may feel like the hottest summer yet.
Is this the hottest summer in North Texas?
There are different ways to quantify which summer is the hottest, but typically the National Weather Service uses the number of 100 degree days as a way to note the hottest recorded summers.
National Weather Service records indicate that this year ranks in the top 10 for the number of triple-digit days in a calendar year.
Meteorologist Matt Stalley said looking at individual maximum or minimum temperature extremes for the summer could have skewed results.
“You could have something where you had an actually cooler than normal summer, but you only had a hot spell that lasted a couple of weeks and then all of a sudden a summer that actually wasn’t too bad was just kind of skewed by one shorter period of really hot temperatures,” he said.
Highest average temperature is another metric used by the National Weather Service to determine the hottest recorded summer.
So far this year ranks fourth for highest average temperatures recorded in Dallas-Fort Worth between June 1 to August 20.
How does this summer compare to past summers in North Texas?
This year may not be the hottest summer, but data by the National Weather Service shows that it’s close.
Highest average temperature and number of 100 degree days are the two typical metrics meteorologists use when quantifying the hottest recorded summer.
These are the years with the highest average temperature in the Dallas-Fort Worth area according to National Weather Service data between June 1 to August 20.
10. 1952: 87.3
9. 2010: 87.4
8. 2008: 87.5
7. 1934: 87.6
6. 1954: 87.8
5. 1998: 88.3
4. 2023: 88.4
3. 2022: 89
2. 1980: 89.4
1. 2011: 90.2
Here are the years with the most 100 degree days in Dallas-Fort Worth area recorded by the National Weather Service as of Sunday.
10. 2023 and 1951: 40 days
9. 2006: 43 days
8. 1952: 44 days
7. 2000: 46 days
6. 2022: 47 days
5. 1956: 48 days
4. 1954: 52 days
3. 1998: 56 days
2. 1980: 69 days
1. 2011: 71 days
