If you feel like this is the longest hot streak you can recall in San Antonio, that’s because it is.
Shortly before 3 p.m. Saturday, San Antonio tied a record for the most consecutive days that have broken 100 degrees. That record, 21 days in a row, was last set in 1962 — when President John F. Kennedy was still in office and HemisFair hadn’t even been thought of yet. With a projected high of 105 Sunday and 104 Monday, the summer of 2023 is likely to own the record all by itself.
So far this year San Antonio has seen 54 days that have been 100 degrees or above. The most the city has had in one year is 59 days, which was in 2009. Last summer came close to tying that record with 58 days at the century mark or above.
San Antonio is expected to finally see some relief Tuesday, however, as rain showers move into the area, said Orlando Bermúdez, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service. The high for Tuesday is expected to be around 93 degrees, and there’s a 40% chance of rain, Bermúdez said.
“Hopefully we get to Tuesday as quickly as possible,” Bermúdez said.
For most of the summer, San Antonio — and most of Texas — has been stuck under a high air pressure system or “subtropical ridge,” Bermúdez said. Other meteorologists have referred to this ridge as a “heat dome,” encapsulating the hot air around us like a glass bowl.
For the past few years, the U.S. has been in the La Niña weather pattern, which typically brings warmer temperatures but less rain to the southern United States, Bermúdez said. El Niño, La Niña’s counterpart, is finally expected to move in around this fall, which should bring with it a wet and cold winter, Bermúdez said.
Bermúdez said the record streak is not necessarily reflective of climate change patterns, it’s just a result of climate patterns in general.
“This is just a prolonged stretch of heat … ” he said. “This is a weather pattern we see every year in Central Texas.”
