My climatology analysis of San Antonio, Del Rio, and Laredo shows that we are entering the part of summer when the heat across South Texas often reaches another level.<\/p>\n
A review of daily record highs from July 24 through August 7 for San Antonio, Del Rio and Laredo shows that this 15-day stretch has repeatedly produced some of the most intense temperatures in the region\u2019s climate history.<\/p>\n
And while extreme heat is certainly not new, the records also show that each city has its own heat personality.<\/p>\n
San Antonio:<\/p>\n
San Antonio\u2019s daily record highs during this period range from 103 to 106, with an average record high of 104.2. The highest readings came on July 26 and July 27, when the temperature reached 106 in 1954.<\/p>\n
Those long-standing records show that exceptional heat has occurred before but most of the records within this period are recent.<\/p>\n
Of the 15 daily records:<\/p>\n
12 were set since 1970.<\/p>\n
10 were set since 2000.<\/p>\n
Five belong to 2023 alone.<\/p>\n
The summer of 2023 holds the records for July 31 and four consecutive dates from August 4 through August 7.<\/p>\n
That concentration matters. San Antonio\u2019s recent heat story is not simply about one spectacular afternoon. It is increasingly about long stretches of record or near-record temperatures.<\/p>\n
Del Rio:<\/p>\n
Del Rio\u2019s record temperatures during the same period range from 105 to 110.<\/p>\n
The average record high is 107.2, exactly three degrees above San Antonio\u2019s average.<\/p>\n
Every day in the 15-day window has reached at least 105. Four dates have reached 109 or hotter, with the highest temperature of 110 recorded on July 24, 2018, and August 6, 2023.<\/p>\n
All 15 of Del Rio\u2019s daily records were set after 1970.<\/p>\n
The summer of 2023 dominates the list, owning seven records:<\/p>\n
July 26<\/p>\n
July 31<\/p>\n
August 1<\/p>\n
August 2<\/p>\n
August 4<\/p>\n
August 5<\/p>\n
August 6<\/p>\n
Two more records were established in 2024.<\/p>\n
In other words, nine of the 15 standing records occurred during 2023 or 2024.<\/p>\n
That is a remarkable concentration and a strong example of how persistent recent heat has become along the Rio Grande.<\/p>\n
Laredo:<\/p>\n
Laredo is in a different category.<\/p>\n
Its daily records from July 24 through August 7 range from 107 to 112, with an average record high of 109.3.<\/p>\n
Twelve of the 15 dates have reached at least 109.<\/p>\n
The highest temperature in the three-city comparison is Laredo\u2019s 112 on July 31, 1991.<\/p>\n
Unlike San Antonio and Del Rio, however, Laredo\u2019s records are not dominated by the past several years.<\/p>\n
The late 1990s stand out most:<\/p>\n
Four records belong to 1999.<\/p>\n
Two belong to 1994.<\/p>\n
Individual records remain from 1991, 1995, 1997 and 1998.<\/p>\n
Three records belong to 2023.<\/p>\n
Fourteen of the 15 records were set after 1970, but only four were set since 2000.<\/p>\n
That distinction is important.<\/p>\n
Laredo has always operated near the upper limit of South Texas summer heat. Its record book shows extraordinary temperatures throughout the 1990s, rather than a wholesale takeover by the most recent summers.<\/p>\n
Three cities, three different heat profiles<\/p>\n
\ue113<\/p>\n
CityAverage daily recordHighest recordDates at 105+Most dominant year<\/p>\n
San Antonio104.21066 of 152023: 5 records<\/p>\n
Del Rio107.211015 of 152023: 7 records<\/p>\n
Laredo109.311215 of 151999: 4 records<\/p>\n
San Antonio has the lowest temperature ceiling of the three, partly because it is more exposed to Gulf moisture and less consistently influenced by the hot, dry air found farther west.<\/p>\n
Del Rio sits in a transition zone where intense sunshine, dry soils and westward heat can push readings well above 105.<\/p>\n
Laredo has the highest ceiling, with temperatures of 109 or hotter appearing on 12 of the 15 dates.<\/p>\n
What the records do\u2014and do not\u2014tell us<\/p>\n
These daily records establish the upper limits of what has happened on each date. They do not, by themselves, prove that every summer is becoming hotter.<\/p>\n
To answer that question, we would need to examine the complete daily temperature record for every year, including:<\/p>\n
Average highs<\/p>\n
Number of 100 days<\/p>\n
Length of heat streaks<\/p>\n
Overnight lows<\/p>\n
Rainfall<\/p>\n
ENSO phase<\/p>\n
But the record table already reveals an important regional pattern.<\/p>\n
South Texas has always been capable of extreme heat during late July and early August. The difference is that recent heat has been especially persistent in San Antonio and Del Rio, while Laredo\u2019s most extraordinary records remain more widely distributed across several decades.<\/p>\n
The bottom line<\/p>\n
Late July and early August are not simply another two weeks of summer.<\/p>\n
They represent a period when weeks of accumulated heating, dry soils, persistent high pressure and limited rainfall can combine to push South Texas toward its seasonal temperature ceiling.<\/p>\n
The records show three different versions of that heat:<\/p>\n
San Antonio: lower extremes, but a strong recent concentration.<\/p>\n
Del Rio: more frequent temperatures above 105 and a major 2023\u20132024 surge.<\/p>\n
Laredo: the highest overall ceiling, with several extraordinary records from the 1990s.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"My climatology analysis of San Antonio, Del Rio, and Laredo shows that we are entering the part of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":389619,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[82,84,83],"class_list":["post-389618","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio-headlines","tag-san-antonio-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389618","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=389618"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389618\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/389619"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=389618"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=389618"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=389618"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}