Has it been unusually hot in Abilene this May? (Mesquite: moving to, pine)

[Oregon Bill]

Wondering if anyone on here is from the area. I have been watching the temps daily as I am moving to Sweetwater in a few weeks. Seeing lots of triples, well above the average of about 90 this time of year. The heat's not bad with the wind, though.

[ChristieP]

This summer has already been hotter than normal, and definitely hotter than last year (which was abnormally cool).

[Oregon Bill]

Thanks Christie. It seems the La Niña has intensified. Brother in Spokane says it is abnormally cool and wet up that way. Fits the pattern.

[Oregon Bill]

It was even hotter than I realized. From the Abilene newspaper:

The heat was on in May: Records fall as Abilene sweats out warmest month on record
Greg Jaklewicz
Abilene Reporter-News






Wednesday's 95-degree heat made for hot work for Jose Medina, who had to cut through the rebar between concrete slabs outside the Grant Building, 302 Pine St. While last month turned out to be the hottest May on record, June will soon turn a little cooler for at least a few days.
Yes, it was hot in May.

No doubt about it.

Record hot.

The National Weather Service in San Angelo confirmed Wednesday, the first day of June, that the past 31 days were the hottest on record.

How hot was it?

The average daytime high was 95.5 degrees, a record besting the 93.4 recorded in 1998.

Abilenians sweated through a record 14 days of 100 degrees or hotter – 45% of the month. It was 98 or 99 six other days.

The previous record for 100-degree days was seven, so we doubled that.

The average daily temperature was 81.0, topping 79.4 recorded in 2000.

Ten daily high temperature records were tied or broken. By contrast, eight records were tied or broken for warmest low temperature.


In 2021, Abilene recorded one May day above 90 degrees, and that came in at 92. It was 93 on May 2, a hint we likely missed that this May was going to be greatly different.

There were only nine days in May the daytime high was under 90.

The 100-degree days were:

6 - 102

7 - 107

8 - 107

9 - 103

10 - 100

12 - 100

13 - 100

15 - 106

17 - 103

19 - 107

20 - 105

28 - 104

29 - 103

And while June starts without the 100s, those are coming soon enough. It's supposed to be 102 for a high Sunday.

Why was it so hot?

"A combination of things," said Matt Groh, meteorologist with the weather service in San Angelo.


To start, it's a La Niña year, when not only Texas experiences hot and dry conditions. This is a particularly strong La Niña, Groh said.

In early and mid-May, Texas was hit with hot, dry masses of air that lowered humidity, sometimes to less than 10% in Abilene. Without humidity, the temperature rises quickly.

The flipside was that it also cooled at night, and with a breeze, it was pleasant most mornings.


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The month would've been even hotter had it not cooled off last week. In fact, the coolest day of the month was May 24, when the high was a welcome 69 degrees.

The low was 51 degrees May 25. It felt chilly after a high of 105 just five days earlier.

After four straight days over 100, Abilene had five days under 90 and some rain – 0.61 inches. The precipitation helped douse the Mesquite Heat Fire southwest of Abilene fueled by dry brush and high winds.

June was to begin with a moderate cooldown into the mid-90s with a chance of rain Thursday-Saturday.

Then, the heat returns.

[Oregon Bill]

Been watching the temps in Taylor and Nolan counties as my move date approaches. Been pretty much nothing but triples. We are finally seeing some monsoon weather in the forecast here in south-central New Mexico. The daily thunderstorms in the mountains will be most welcome as long as they are wet and not dry.

[wxf848]

Yes, it has. This is the first May on record (going back to 1886) in which the average temperature in Abilene was above 80 degrees. The average was 81. For the full period of record, the mean average is 72.6 degrees. For the period of 1991 to 2020, on which the normals are based, the mean average is 73.3 degrees. This year the average was above the mean average for the normal period for June, which is 80.3 degrees.


On this page you can view a lot of data. Select "Abilene area," "Monthly summarized data," a year range, and then a summary type. I used "average temperature," which I believe is the average of all of the highs and lows for the month, and "mean." You can change those to view whatever data you're interested in.



https://www.weather.gov/wrh/climate?wfo=sjt


Edit - I just checked, and the average high was 95.5, which is way above the normal period mean of 85.1, and even above the normal period mean for June, July, and August, which are 91.5, 95.1, and 94.7. This means that the average daily high in May was above what you would expect in any month of a normal year.