WFAA senior meteorologist Jesse Hawila joined NTX Now to talk summer heat and triple digit temperatures in North Texas. How hot is it compared to other summers? What’s causing it? And is climate change at play?
Here are 5 takeaways from our conversation:
1. What is a “heat dome” and why is North Texas under one?
A heat dome is essentially a large area of high pressure that traps and intensifies heat. Hawila says the current system is centered over or very near Texas, putting North Texas in one of the worst parts of it.
The high pressure causes air to sink toward the surface. As that air descends, it compresses and heats up. The effect is being compounded by the region’s dry conditions: dry ground heats more easily than wet soil, helping push afternoon temperatures into the 105- and 106-degree range.
2. There’s more to measuring a hot summer than counting consecutive 100-degree days
The famous benchmarks in DFW are 1980, when the region endured 42 consecutive triple-digit days, and 2011, when the streak reached 40. But Hawila says consecutive days alone don't necessarily tell you how intense a summer has been.
Meteorologists can average the daily highs and lows to compare one summer with another. But Hawila says he also likes to focus specifically on the number of triple-digit days, how high those temperatures reached and how long the triple-digit heat persisted.
This year illustrates why. Beginning Aug. 3, North Texas was essentially in the triple digits nonstop, except for Aug. 10, when the official high was 99. That means North Texas had nearly three weeks of temperatures at or above 100, with just that one-degree interruption. The area averages only about 20 triple-digit days in an entire year.
3. Where do official temperature records come from?
For these comparisons, Hawila uses observations collected at the official observation site at DFW International Airport.
It's a maintained and regulated weather station, and it isn't sitting on a hot airport runway. The equipment is positioned above the ground, in a shaded area over grass. The long-running database from that site allows meteorologists to compare current conditions with historical records and determine where a particular month or summer ranks for heat, rainfall and other measurements.
4. Where does climate change show up in the temperature data?
For Hawila, one of the clearest signals is not necessarily how hot the afternoons are getting, but how warm the nights are staying.
If you graph average high temperatures and average low temperatures over time, both show increases. But Hawila says the upward slope is noticeably steeper for overnight lows. He notes that the normal low at the hottest point of a North Texas summer is 77 degrees, yet recent mornings have routinely produced lows of 80, 81 and 82 degrees.
Some of that increase is attributable to the urban heat island effect, but Hawila says the long-term rise in overnight low temperatures is where the warming trend is particularly noticeable in the data.
5. So where does the summer of 2026 actually rank?
As miserable as the past few weeks have felt, this isn't close to our hottest summer on record.
Using the beginning of meteorological summer of June 1 and measuring through Aug. 19, Hawila says 2026 ranks as the 11th hottest summer to date locally.
August itself ranks higher. Through the date of the interview, it was the seventh hottest August on record. That helps explain the perception that this summer has suddenly become exceptionally brutal. Much of its most intense heat has been concentrated in the past several weeks.
To listen to this interview in its entirety, click the 'listen' button above.
Miranda Suarez and Ron Corning are the hosts of KERA's NTX Now. Got a tip? Email Miranda at msuarez@kera.org or Ron at rcorning@kera.org.
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