Austin residents should brace themselves for a potentially stormy afternoon as the city faces a 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms mainly after 1 pm today, according to the National Weather Service. With the mercury poised to push into the 90s and the heat index getting ready to bake the city at a scorching 101 degrees, folks might soon find themselves caught between the need for an umbrella and a desire to seek air-conditioned refuge.
The steamy forecast doesn't end there, as the rest of the week expects to see partly to mostly sunny skies with afternoon highs consistently hammering the mid to upper 90s. Humidity levels are slated to climb, especially due to ground moisture from previous rains, forcing Austin to endure heat indices that could soar between 105° to 110° from Tuesday through Friday, KXAN reports.
Looking back at the previous evening, Austin faced severe weather that caused heavy rain across multiple locations, including one report of walnut-sized hail hitting Buchanan Dam around 6:45 p.m. As for rainfall, Camp Mabry gathered an impressive 1.47 inches all before sunrise on Friday, putting the May total over an inch above the normal at 6.20 inches, and marking a year total of 18.08 inches, 3.21 inches above the average for the year so far.
The weekend weather scene is looking to narrowly avoid a repeat of Friday's drama, with most of the morning expected to remain dry. Although the threat of severe weather has dimmed, Austinites should still keep an eye out as pockets of heavy rain are not ruled out, potentially quickly causing areas susceptible to flooding to be overwhelmed. The area stands under a Marginal threat of flash flooding, so residents might want to prepare to quickly adapt to changing conditions.
As the calendar flips to June and the start of Meteorological Summer, Austin is reminded of the scorching season it has weathered before. The previous two summers have scorched their way into the history books as the second and third hottest summers on record, with the summer of 2023 being particularly notable. But the desultory honor for hottest goes to 2011, which saw a record-breaking 90 days with temperatures at or surpassing the century mark.
