Posted: Sat, 2 Jul 2011 12:05 PM - 9,255 Readers

By: Asher Price

June was the second hottest on record at Camp Mabry and the fourth hottest recorded at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, according to the National Weather Service.

The average June temperature at Mabry, in West Austin, was 87.1 degrees . The hottest average for June on record at Mabry, in 2008 , was 87.4 . June's average at the airport, in Southeast Austin, was 85.3 degrees.

High temperatures tied or broke records 10 times at Mabry and the airport. Austin has now notched 18 100-degree days at Mabry , including 106 on June 16 and 17 . Last month, 10 consecutive 100-degree days were recorded at Mabry, tying a June 2008 record.

June was drier than normal, but a healthy rain on June 22 kept the month out of the record books.


Rainfall at Mabry was 2.01 inches, all in one 24-hour period, June 21-22; normal rainfall is 3.81 inches, according to weather service records between 1971 and 2000. Rainfall at the airport was 1.39 inches; normal rainfall there is 3.42 inches, the weather service says.

January to June this year at Mabry is the ninth driest on record, dating back to 1856, and the fifth driest at the airport, dating to 1942.

Texas has received only "glancing blows" of moisture — on Friday afternoon, brief showers were a welcome sight — because a high-pressure ridge has remained entrenched over the southern and central U.S., said Monte Oaks , a weather service meteorologist.

Gulf storm systems like Arlene, which made landfall Thursday in Mexico, have been deflected by the ridge to the west-southwest, into Mexico and up the Rio Grande Valley.

That ridge is unlikely to budge any time soon, said Oaks, tamping down the chances of significant moisture or weather instability.

*  Story Contributed by: Asher Price