The heat of ’22 is heading to history books, days of record-high temperatures rivaling the searing heat in 2011, and the hottest on record.
Texas A&M says state climatologist John Nielson-Gammon, Director of the Southern Regional Climate Center, sees little relief in sight. “June is typically a wet month for Texas, but it’s not shaping up that way so far,” they quote in a university publication. “Except for West Texas, July is typically a dry month, so continued lack of rain in June could mean that we are stuck with a very hot summer. The hottest summer on record was in 2011, the one recent year in which June drought was worse than today. It would not surprise me if this summer ended up being the second-hottest summer on record for the state.”
The drought is hitting Hill Country hard, and that’s being seen in river flow levels.
“The Comal River is down a little bit,” says James Reno, owner of Texas Tubes in New Braunfels. “There is no walking yet. It’s still flowing good. You’ll float the whole way. You won’t have to get up and drag your tubes over rocks.”
Peak season is coming with the Fourth of July, and business is on par with normal Texas summers.
This week the Frio River, a major draw for Garner State Park, was measured at 0.0 cubic feet per second. Normal is 60.
photo: Getty Images