August lived up to being the hottest month of the year

AUSTN (KXAN) -- The month of August ended with temperatures above normal and precipitation below normal. It was hoped that August would extend above-normal rainfall measured in July (3.03" with a normal of 1.96").

Statistically, the eighth month of the year is the hottest month in Austin. In fact, the first 14 days are the hottest days of the year with a "normal" daytime maximum temperature of 99°. In the first 14 days of August, the high reached 99° or higher 10 times.

For the month, August featured 20 days of highs above normal, three days of highs at normal levels and eight days of highs below normal. The lowest high was 92° on the 27th.

The hottest? The high of 109° on the 21st made this day the third hottest in recorded history. That was one of 16 days when the high reached triple digits. That number doesn't seem so bad when compared to August 2023, when the high reached 100° or higher 29 days and the two days that did not reached triple digits had highs of 99°.

Boiling it down, the mean temperature in August — taking into account highs and lows — ended up being 88.0°, 1.5° above normal.

By the way, it was on Aug. 17, 2023 when the second hottest temperature was recorded, when the thermometer reached 110°. The hottest temperature ever is 112° first recorded on Sept. 5, 2000 and tied on Aug. 28, 2011. It was that year that Camp Mabry reached triple digits 90 days, still the record.

As for rain, well, it seemed like rain was missing Austin more than normal. The area had a good soaker on the 4th with 0.95". But the rain gauge stayed dry for much of the rest of the month. After the searing heat of the third full week of the month, rain did return to Austin for the first half of the final week. The gauge at Camp Mabry measured 0.54" on Aug. 27, sandwiched between 0.01" on both the the 26h and 28th.

August is typically the seventh wettest month of the year, but the final total of 1.51" is only 55% of the total normal rain at 2.74". Hopefully September will yield more rain. September is the fourth wettest month with 3.45."

In the final analysis, the stats show Camp Mabry's mean temperature tied for 11th warmest (or hottest, if you prefer) while the lack of rain made it the 60th wettest on record.