AUSTIN, Texas — In the early stages of 2024, the KVUE Storm Team reported that the summer of 2024 was forecast to be warmer and drier than average.
Now that June, July and August are over, it's time to check whether the forecast has verified.
First off, August ended up 1.5 degrees warmer than average and about 1.25 inches drier than average.
This ties August 2024 for 11th place in the warmest Augusts on record. August 2024 was also in 66th place for driest of all time. Technically, that is drier than average but not very significant when taking into account the past 127 years of data at Camp Mabry.
While the dryness wasn't super shocking, the above-average temperatures are a highlight for August. We recorded likely our hottest temperatures of the year on Aug. 21 at 109 degrees.
August was also the month with the most 100-degree days, with 16. For the whole summer, we had 30 days with 100-degree temperatures, which is a stark difference from the summer of 2023, which had 67 days.
August also fell on the dry side. The average precipitation for August rainfall is 2.12 inches. We received about an inch less than that.
All in all, the summer forecast did verify – Austin was warmer and drier than average.
We placed within the top 10 for hottest summers ever, and all summer long we recorded almost 6 inches of rainfall. The normal summertime average for precipitation is about 7.5 inches.
