Hot is better than scorching
It’s not quite sweater weather, but it’s a start. Highland Lakes temperatures dropped below 100 degrees for the first time in 51 days on Monday, Aug. 28. While triple digits could return, average daily highs are projected to steadily fall in the coming weeks.
Marble Falls saw a high of 99 degrees on Monday, according to the National Weather Service, which is significantly cooler than the average high of 105 degrees the entire area has experienced since July 8. Much of Central Texas has been caught in a brutal heat wave caused by a heat dome that has stagnated temperatures and reduced airflow in the region until recently.
“A late August ‘cold front’ pushed through the area Sunday (Aug. 28) and Sunday night and has put an end to our recent streak of extreme temperatures,” wrote Lower Colorado River Authority meteorologist Bob Rose in an Aug. 28 weather report.
That front dropped temperatures and produced a little rain (very little) in the Hill Country, but temperatures on Sunday were actually incredibly high. Marble Falls had one of its hottest days of the year on Sunday, reaching 109.4 degrees.
Sporadic rain did pepper Llano and Burnet counties, giving a parched landscape its first taste of water in months. LCRA rain gauges picked up nearly an inch of rain near Kingsland over the past five days, but it was fairly localized. Most of the Hill Country received less than a few tenths of an inch in the same timeframe.
The National Weather Service is forecasting another 99-degree day on Wednesday, Aug. 30, and temperatures in the low hundreds through Labor Day weekend.