Record Warmth

The mercury officially soared to a record-shattering 85ºF this afternoon along the runways at Austin Bergstrom International Airport; beating the old record high of 82ºF set back on this date in 2006. The mercury soared to 84ºF along Mopac at Camp Mabry, missing their record high of 86ºF set back in 1917 by 2 degrees. The normal high for this time of year is 62ºF and the normal low for this time of year is 42ºF. We started the day off at 70ºF across a good portion of central Texas; some 28-33 degrees above average for this time of year. Our highs in the 80s this afternoon were a good 21-22 degrees above average.

Austin was not the only place in Texas that set brand new record highs. Here's a list of record highs set today from across the state of Texas:

San Antonio: 86ºF (Old Record was 84ºF set back in 1917)
Del Rio: 87ºF (Old Record was 82ºF set back in 1917)
Corpus Christi: 91ºF (Old Record was 86ºF set back in 2008)
*Laredo: 94ºF (Old Record was 90ºF set back in 1956)

What caused this record-breaking heat across central and south Texas? It is a weather phenomenon known as downsloping winds (compressional heating)...a west, southwest wind is notorious for bringing warm conditions to south Texas and central Texas. 

Let's take a look at ou regional geography. This is a shaded relief map of the state of Texas; I placed city labels on the map. The mountains across northeastern Mexico (the northernmost extent of the Sierra Madre Oriental Mountain Range) play a key role in our weather here in central Texas, when winds blow out of the west, southwest. As air is forced to flow down the mountains, it is compressed. As air is compressed, it heats up. Winds at 5,000 feet above sea level were blowing out of the west southwest ahead of the approaching cold front this afternoon. That west southwest wind aloft was blowing straight off of the warm and dry deserts of northern Mexico...this warm air mixes down to the surface and allows for temperatures to skyrocket across the area. This phenomenon occurs frequently during the late winter and spring months here in Texas as approaching weather systems and their associated fronts cause strong southwesterly winds to develop aloft over northern Mexico and Texas, which forces the air over the Mexican Plateau to sink and rapidly heat up. In turn, giving us well above normal temperatures. It is not uncommon for temperatures in Austin to be in the 80s, with temps in Laredo above 100ºF during March, April, and May.

Here is a graphic to help explain the situation:

This is a look at highs from across Texas today:

Highs across Central Texas: Check out how much hotter it was down in south Texas!

Windy front that blew through the area this evening will allow for a significantly colder start to the day across the state on Wednesday: Forecast lows on Wednesday morning

Forecast highs across the state on Wednesday: Gusty northerly winds and very dry air will allow for extremely high fire danger across the state