100 degree days may last through August or September, experts say
NORTH TEXAS (CBSDFW.COM) - The brutal heat in North Texas just doesn't want to go away.
Right now, Texas State Climatologist John Nielsen-Gammon says we're sitting about two degrees above the 20th century average because of climate change.
"We also have been fairly dry in most of Texas these past nine to 10 months because of drought and the less moisture there is on the ground, the more the sun's energy just goes into generating heat rather than evaporating," he said.
Lastly, the Gulf of Mexico is running warmer than normal and that's where our air tends to come from in the summer.
"The heat wave comes in when we also get wind from the southwest so winds coming off of northern Mexico or the desert southwest rather than the gulf," Nielsen-Gammon said.
He said that's when temperatures spike up past the 100-degree-plus mark. So how long will this last?
"The general heat of summer certainly through September, but this kind of heat.. I mean according to the Climate Prediction Center there's a chance this could last another four weeks," NOAA Weather Prediction Center Senior Weather Forecaster David Roth said. "You know there is an off chance it could continue through August and September."
"It will become less and less unusual as time goes on," Nielsen-Gammon said. "We'll see the number of 100° days double over the next several decades. It will probably double again by 2050."
