Posted: Tue, 5 Jul 2011 11:31 AM - 9,261 Readers

By: Claudia Grisales

Sorry folks, the run of hot, dry weather is slated to continue well into July.

We’re likely in store for many more triple-digit days this week and this month, says Bob Rose, chief meteorologist for the Lower Colorado River Authority.

“Everyone is hoping for some rain, but we are now in the time of year where we don’t see a lot of rain —- even in a normal July,” Rose said. “It’s typically not a wet month. So not surprisingly, this is a mostly hot and dry month for the Central Texas area.”

The average temperature in June was 87.1 degrees, Rose said, just shy of the record 87.4 set in 2008.

This year Austin has posted 21 days of 100-degree or more heat, Rose said. At this rate, we could come close to the record of 69 triple-digit days set in 2009 and 1925, he said.

“I think we have a very good chance of being very close,” he said. “The big wild card is what might develop in the tropics that could change things. Absent of that, I do think this dry and hot pattern will continue right into August.”

Yesterday, Camp Mabry reached a high of 101, and it’s likely we’ll reach that several times this week, he said.

“It looks like triple-digit heat just about every day this week,” Rose said. “It will be scorching hot and dry.”

There was hope last week that the high-pressure system would move, causing temperatures to fall slightly, but that didn’t happen, Rose said.

“It didn’t move along quite as much as we had thought,” he said. “The weather has stayed pretty much the same as it was last week.”

There is some thought that a weak area of low pressure could move toward Texas by the end of the week and bring scattered showers, but Rose says it seems unlikely.

“I wouldn’t get my hopes up,” he said.

Last weekend, the area saw some showers in the area thanks to lingering moisture from Tropical Storm Arlene, Rose said.

*  Story Contributed by: Claudia Grisales