AUSTIN (KXAN) — May 2022 was the hottest May ever record in Austin — by far.
The average temperature at Camp Mabry — when combining the high and low for each day — was 82.3°.
Let’s put that into perspective: According to data from the National Weather Service, the “normal” average temperature for May is 76.8°. That means the month ran a fever of 5.5° above normal.
No other May in Austin, with records dating back to 1898, has ever been that high above normal.
In both 2018 and 1996, May ended up being 3.8° above normal. May 1902 was 3.5° above normal.
Meanwhile, May 1907 was the coolest May on record in Austin. The average temperature for the month was 67.5°, which is 9.3° cooler than normal.
So here’s what we’re all wondering: Does a hot May mean a hot summer? Not necessarily.
In 2018, a hot May did lead to a hot summer. Camp Mabry hit 100° a total of 52 times that year, the sixth most on record. A high of 110° was reached on July 23.
It was a different story in 1996, though. May’s average temperature that year was the same as in 2018, but the year saw far fewer 100° days, with just 17.
The summer of 2011 was a record breaker. Austin hit 100° a total of 90 days, even though May that year was just 1.2° above normal. Similarly, 1925 saw 69 days of triple-digit heat, the second-most since records began, but May 1925 was actually 0.8° cooler than normal.
Austin officially hit 100° for the first time this year on Saturday, May 21. That’s the fourth-earliest we’ve ever hit the century mark in a calendar year.
Weather predictions months into the future are very difficult, and all it takes is one summer tropical storm from the Gulf to bring significant rain and milder temperatures. In the absence of that outside chance, however, Chief Meteorologist David Yeomans says he does not see much that will save us from a hotter than normal summer to come.