Summer doesn’t want to give up even though Fall is a few days away

We’re only a few days away from the first day of fall! Fall officially kicks off at 8:04 p.m. on Thursday, September 22nd, but sadly we have no fall weather in sight here for Central Texas. In fact, the heat dome will be building across Central Texas as we say farewell to summer and hello to fall.

A strengthening area of high-pressure remains in control of our weather this upcoming week. That means we will see above normal temperatures and rain-free conditions, almost like a 2nd summer. Thankfully it won’t be as brutally hot like what we were dealing with back in July, but we all want fall weather and this will just be the opposite of that.

High temperatures this week will be around 5 to 10-degrees ABOVE the normal for this time of the year. We’re even on record high watch for a few days this week. Here’s a look at some of the record highs we’re keeping our eye out on:

• Record high for Tuesday 9/20: 101° set back in 2021
• Record high for Wednesday 9/21: 101° set back in 1933
• Record high for Thursday 9/22: 100° set back in 2005
• Record high for Friday 9/23: 99° set back in 2005

Thankfully it also won’t be nearly as humid as what we were seeing back in the awfully hot summer months, but we’ll still have some moisture around in the air as winds stay from the south/southeast this week. That means our feels-like temperatures will be a degree or two higher than the air temperature, so our heat index values will be in the upper 90s to low 100s across Central Texas this week. This is just another reminder to stay hydrated while you’re spending time outdoors.

High-pressure will shut down rain chances and keep storms away from our area this week. We will have to monitor sea breeze activity, but forecast models keep that rain closer to the coast for the week. If we manage to see some of this isolated rain move into Central Texas, the only places that could see some would be our far southeastern areas.

You may be wondering when we could see a pattern change heading our way? Well forecast models are hinting at the ridge of high-pressure weakening by late next weekend and that allows a cold front to try to move into the Lone Star State. If this happens, we should see our temperatures “cool off” back closer to our normal for this time of the year (upper 80s and low 90s) and hopefully bring us some isolated rain chances.

To recap all of this for you, just expect another taste of summer even though fall is just a few days away! Continue to remain hydrated and get ready for our weather conditions to remain pretty much the same each day this week - just hot and a little humid and rain-free.

Tropics Update: Tropical Storm Fiona is the 6th named storm of the year and formed last week back on Wednesday, September 14th. Fiona gained strength and developed into a Category 1 Hurricane as it moved into Puerto Rico. On Sunday afternoon, all of Puerto Rico’s residents were without power due to Fiona’s strong winds. Heavy rain will continue for Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic as this storm moves west/northwest into the start of the work week.

The National Hurricane Center has Fiona staying east of the U.S. this week. That is good news because as Fiona pushes away from Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, she is forecast to strengthen even more and could potentially develop into a Category 3 storm, which means Fiona could become the first Major Hurricane of the 2022 Atlantic Hurricane Season.

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