Is Central Texas done with 100-degree days this year?

AUSTIN (KXAN) — It's been a wacky year for heat in Central Texas.

Our first 100-degree day came almost by surprise on June 14, but then we went roughly 1.5 months until the next one. That second 100-degree day fell on July 25 and was our only 100-degree day in July.

Heat picked up a little bit in August with three 100-degree days, but it was such a wet and cool summer that we had to wait until September to see the 100s really add up. September had five triple-digit days, equaling the number of 100s in the three previous months.

That puts our triple-digit days total in 2021 at 10. In an average year, we get 29. Usually most of them come in the month of August.

Are we done with 100-degree days this year?

To answer that, we looked back at history to find our typical, final 100-degree day comes on Aug. 30 on average. But this year, we had five triple-digit days AFTER that.

The LATEST 100-degree day in Austin-area history happened twice on Oct. 2 in 1938 and 1923.

Since 1897, only 10 Septembers have had triple-digit heat AFTER Sept. 15. That would seem to suggest our chances for more triple-digit heat is low.

But, September heat has become more common over the past decade. Eight of the last 10 years have had 100s in September, two of those coming after Sept. 15.

The most recent September with triple digits in the second half of the month was in 2019, when we hit 100 degrees or higher as late as Sept. 25.

Last year our final triple-digit day came on Sept. 1. With above average temperatures expected the majority of the rest of the month, it's too soon to rule out more 100-degree days.