Break out your tank tops and find your nearest raspa or paleta stand, San Antonio. The city is expected to see its first triple-digit days of the year beginning Thursday as a major heat wave moves into the Central Texas area.
The National Weather Service issued a heat advisory Tuesday, and local officials are warning residents to stay indoors as much as possible over the next week and a half. Temperatures are predicted to reach as high as 105 degrees over the next 10 days, according to Keith White, a National Weather Service meteorologist.
“It’s already hot and it’s expected to get hotter through the week,” White said. “It’s also going to be very humid. Heat indices are likely to be a few degrees warmer than those temperatures, so they could get up to 110 to 113.”
The heat index refers to the perceived temperature felt by people when combining the air temperature and relative humidity, White explained.
While Texas in the summer months gets hot in general, this particular heat wave is related to a ridge of high pressure setting up overhead of Central and South Texas, White said. Winds lightly flowing south to southeast are bringing in moisture from the coast throughout the week, adding humidity to the mix, he said.
Residents may also notice some residual smoke hanging in the air from the seasonal fires in southern Mexico blowing into Central Texas — with the highest density smoke spreading eastward into the coastal and Southeast regions, according to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
Issues around the grid still hot
CPS Energy, San Antonio’s electric utility, said it is prepared to meet the energy demand that is expected this week as residents crank up their AC systems this week.
“We have completed the maintenance on our power plants that is required ahead of summer and are communicating daily energy conservation messaging to our community to help control bills and ensure grid reliability,” the utility said in a written statement.
CPS Energy will not disconnect customers who are behind on their bills while the city is under a heat advisory, nor will it do so in the two-day period after an advisory, in accordance with its policy.
Meanwhile, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, the state’s power grid operator, is forecasting Texas will pass its record-high demand for energy this week — but outages aren’t expected.
ERCOT also put to use Tuesday a new communications system to deliver information about grid conditions to the public. It issued its first Weather Watch under the system on Tuesday, informing Texans about “forecasted higher temperatures and higher electrical demand” Thursday through June 21.
A scorching 2022
While this year’s summer has started off considerably cooler than last year’s — which was San Antonio’s hottest summer on record — residents should still be cautious in the heat, city officials said.
Last year, San Antonio saw 58 days that hit triple digits, White said. A Texas Tribune analysis of state data found that heat last year killed at least 268 people in Texas — a large portion likely migrants. The death toll included an incident in which 53 migrants from Mexico and Central America were found dead inside a sweltering tractor-trailer in San Antonio last June after smugglers abandoned them.
The City of San Antonio is encouraging residents to utilize one of the 30 locations that will be open to the public as places to stay cool, which include city libraries, senior centers, and community centers. See the full list here.
Residents needing a box fan can request one through the city’s Project Cool program, which has been in operation since 1997. The program is the result of a partnership among the city, San Antonio Fire Department, Catholic Charities, the United Way of San Antonio & Bexar County, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul and several private partners. Residents are also welcome to donate unused box fans to Project Cool by dropping them off at their nearest fire station.
