The Summer Heat Has Been Brutal but Nowhere Near the Hottest Recorded Temperature in Texas

(Tyler, Texas) - Summer is my favorite season of the year. I love the 90-plus degree heat. I will take that over a 50 degree, or lower, day any time. I can't stand being cold (which is ironic because my wife has to have the have house at 67 degrees all the time).

I will admit that this summer has been abnormally hot in East Texas. We've seen several days in a row that were above 100 degrees with heat indexes around 110. What is unusual is if temperatures get, to say, 120 degrees or higher. It has happened twice in Texas.

Heat Wave in East Texas in 2011

Way back in the year of 2011, the summer heat was brutal in East Texas. There were several days where the low never got out of the 80's. Tyler had two days in a row of temperatures at 110 degrees and Longview had one.

Tyler had a 46 day streak of temperatures above 100 degrees while Longview had two 19 day streaks. It didn't matter what you had your air conditioner set at, it never got cool enough to be comfortable inside your home. The breeze was so hot that it made the heat even worse.

READ MORE: 10 Myths About Texas Weather That Simply Aren't True

Temperature Trends in East Texas in 2011

The temperature graphs below from weather.gov show the temperature trends in Tyler and Longview in the Summer of 2011:

weather.gov

weather.gov

weather.gov

weather.gov

Texas' Hottest Temperature Recorded Twice

The hottest recorded temperature in Texas has happened twice. On August 12, 1936, it got up to 120 degrees in Seymour, roughly 50 miles southwest of Wichita Falls. Then on June 28, 1994, the thermometer read 120 degrees in Monahans, about 35 miles southwest of Odessa.

ncei.noaa.gov

So yeah, it's been hot this summer but nowhere this hot. Things seem to be settling down a bit, though. We're only going to see mid to upper 90s this week followed by low 90s to even upper 80s next week. Cooler temps are coming for you cold weather nuts.

What we need more than cooler temperatures is rain. It would be really nice to get some kind of low pressure system that sits down over us and gives us a week of solid rain. Everyone get out and do a rain dance now.

READ MORE: 7 Easy Steps to Help Reduce the Heat in Your Car in East Texas