{"id":479968,"date":"2026-10-29T03:14:07","date_gmt":"2026-10-29T03:14:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/479968\/"},"modified":"2026-10-29T03:14:07","modified_gmt":"2026-10-29T03:14:07","slug":"high-pressure-not-el-nino-blamed-for-austins-strange-warm-dry-october","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/479968\/","title":{"rendered":"High pressure, not El Ni\u00f1o, blamed for Austin\u2019s strange warm, dry October"},"content":{"rendered":"

AUSTIN, Texas \u2014 As October wraps up this weekend, we are already feeling some seasonal changes. The heat is still kinda here but doesn\u2019t quite have that same punch as it did in August and September. Cold fronts are now back in the realm of possibilities, and we\u2019ve already had one real taste of fall, and it was truly glorious. But this is a bit of a strange Fall season so far! We just wrapped up the hottest September Austin has literally ever seen, and now we\u2019re in the midst of a pretty dry and warm October. We had one sizable rainstorm roll through Austin, right around weekend 1 of Austin City Limits, resulting in a giant mud pit.<\/p>\n

So why has it been so dry? We\u2019re in the middle of the strongest El Ni\u00f1o in human history! Shouldn\u2019t El Ni\u00f1o be bringing in rainier weather by now?<\/p>\n

In short, yes, it should be. But El Ni\u00f1o Southern Oscillation (ENSO), the El Ni\u00f1o, Neutral, and La Ni\u00f1a cycles, is a long-term trend, not a pattern of change. Meaning that not all El Ni\u00f1o seasons are rainy and cooler, and not all La Ni\u00f1as are warm and dry. (INSERT: https:\/\/cbsaustin.com\/news\/local\/strongest-el-nino-in-decades-possible-later-this-year-what-it-means-for-texas)<\/p>\n

ALSO| Civil rights leader Dolores Huerta passed away at 96<\/a><\/p>\n

The reason we\u2019ve been so quiet is pretty simple. We\u2019ve had dominant areas of high pressure overhead these past few weeks. In certain situations, they can create roadblocks in the atmosphere, refusing to let cold fronts or rain chances move through the country. This results in drier and hotter weather. This is why it has been so quiet besides the lone October heavy rain event.<\/p>\n

The term El Nada is being thrown around a bit. While we are still missing 65% of our expected rainfall for the average rainy season in Central Texas, we still have a way to go before we can declare this rainy season a bust. In fact, coming up next week, we\u2019re expecting an Election Day cold front. The timing is still a little uncertain, but those who are voting on Election Day could face some issues, so get out there and vote early!<\/p>\n

As for our rainy season, we have a lot of work to do. We have a long-term drought still lingering in Central Texas, with critically low levels in the Edwards Aquifer as proof of that. Be careful about calling this Super El Ni\u00f1o a \u201cbust\u201d because we are honestly just getting started.<\/p>\n

El Ni\u00f1o and La Ni\u00f1a don\u2019t really affect the summer months because of the sheer number of times that high pressure has a chokehold on the state of Texas. El Ni\u00f1o favors rainier falls\/winters\/springs because of the tendency for the strong Pacific jet stream to carry in more rainfall and humidity. But if a high-pressure system is overhead, it will send that moisture north in the form of cold fronts and severe weather during the summer months. But once things cool down, high pressure becomes less dominant, and eventually we get cold fronts and thunderstorms. Since this summer was so exceptionally hot, with a record-breaking September, highs are still being stubborn. We only had our first cold front shortly after ACL wrapped up.<\/p>\n

The moral of the story is: don\u2019t count your chickens before they hatch. Enjoy the cooler weather with this next cold front and get out and vote! Just not in a thunderstorm.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AUSTIN, Texas \u2014 As October wraps up this weekend, we are already feeling some seasonal changes. The heat…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":479969,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133],"class_list":["post-479968","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479968","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=479968"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479968\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/479969"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=479968"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=479968"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=479968"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}