Summer is supposed to be hot but not this hot
AUSTIN (KXAN) — Meteorological summer begins June 1, 2025. Ahead of the start of the season, we are already seeing late-spring temperature numbers that occur during the summer.
Our partners at Climate Central analyzed the country’s warming. They used a sample of 242 cities, including Austin. Among their findings is that 97% of the cities analyzed warmed by an average of 2.6°F since 1970.
Of those 242 cities in the study, 77 of them warmed by an average of 3°F.
The last 55 years (1970 to 2024) of summer data (average temperatures) were looked at to determine the increasing heat.
They also concluded that one in every five cities presently experiences at least one additional month of hotter-than-normal summer days versus what was reality in 1970.
What contributed to this staggering increase? Climate Central reports that in 2024, planet-warming carbon pollution escalated at the fastest annual rate of record. It’s causing summer’s swelter to start earlier and is contributing to dangerous heat extremes becoming more frequent and more intense.
Is it every region of the country? Yes. But, as is always the case, there are parts of the country where the heating is higher than others. In this recent analysis, it’s the Northwest and the Southwest that are seeing the higher numbers.
In fact, the Top 5 cities with the most warming are all west of the Mississippi. Reno tops the list, followed by Boise, El Paso, Las Vegas, and Salt Lake City.
Copernicus reports that temperatures so far this year have been at least as warm as the two hottest years on record, the two being 2023 and 2024. This could mean that when 2025 ends, it would rank in the Top 5 Warmest Years on record.
As it pertains specifically to the June 1st through August 31st timeline, most of the country will be hotter than normal in an area that starts in the Northwest, travels to the Southwest, across Texas into the Gulf Coast states back up into the Northeast.
Where did Austin fare in this area?
For starters, Austin, since 1970, has seen an increase of 50 days in the number of hotter-than-normal days. That’s just the summer. Imagine what that number would look like if we took into account an entire year.
The average summer temperature in that 55-year period has increased by just under five degrees. It then makes sense why we see more 90+-degree highs even before the summer season begins.
The effect it has on all of us is that it can tax the body. These hot temperatures … or, hotter than hot … pose a risk to some heat-related illnesses. The National Integrated Heat Health Information System has for years let people know about how extreme heat makes it difficult for our bodies to cool off, resulting in heat cramps, heat exhaustion, and, worse, heat stroke.
The National Weather Service reports that heat is #1 when it comes to weather-related deaths. The Journal of the American Medical Association, JAMA, reports that a record 2,325 people died from heat in the latest reporting year, 2023.
The heat can also contribute to poor air quality. In Central Texas, we see the potential of more and more Ozone Action Days as a result. Harmful pollutants are trapped close to Earth’s surface,e increasing the formation of ground-level ozone, according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency. This is not healthy for those with asthma and other respiratory diseases.
The worst effect is that deadly heat waves are growing not just in the United States but across the globe.
