2023 was Bryan-College Station's hottest year on record - KBTX

2023 was Bryan-College Station’s hottest year on record

The average temperature was more than a degree warmer than the previous year of record

BRYAN, Texas (KBTX) - Preliminary numbers show that 2023 was officially the hottest in Bryan-College Station’s 141 years of record keeping. Based on calculations, the year ended 1.2° hotter than the previous top spot which occurred in 2011 and then was tied in 2012.

Every year since 2020 has ended as a top ten hottest of record for Bryan-College Station. Eight of the ten hottest years have occurred since 2010. While El Niño was a contributing factor to heat by the second half of the year, man-made impacts of climate change are the key cause of increasing warmth both in the Brazos Valley and worldwide.

MOST OF THE BRAZOS VALLEY’S HEAT RECORDS WERE REWRITTEN IN 2023

Summer 2023 sweltered as the hottest in Bryan-College Station’s recorded history. As the heat continued into the early part of fall, every significant record for heat in the Brazos Valley was moved down the list as 2023 became the year of record.

While this list does not contain all of the records that occurred throughout the year, here are some of the most significant experienced in 2023:

- Number of 100°+ days: 75 (replaced the previous record of 69 from 2011)
- Number of 105°+ days: 30 (replaces the previous record of 12 from 2011)
- Number of 110° days: 3 (replaces the previous record of 2 from 1903 and tied in 2000)
- Number of 80°+ low temperatures: 52 (replaces the previous record of 29 from 1902)
- Hottest summer (June-July-August) of record: average temperature of 89.8° (replaces the previous record of 88.7° set in 2011 and tied in 2022)
- Hottest August of record: average temperature of 93.3° (replaces the previous record of 90.9° set in 2011)
- Hottest September of record: average temperature of 88.0° (replaces the previous record of 85.0° set in 2005)

Note: Rainfall and temperature data observations began on the campus of Texas A&M College in May 1882. Records were sporadic from 1882 to 1907 and no records are available for 1908 and 1909. Reliable records are available from 1910 to present. Observations began on the campus of Texas A&M College in May 1882. The station was relocated to the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station main farm located seven miles southwest of the College Station Post Office in January 1954. This station closed April 30, 1958. Other rainfall and temperature observations were taken in Bryan at 2310 23rd Street from September 1, 1913 through March 31, 1947. A weather station was established at the College Station FAA Airport (originally referred to as Bryan CAA Airport) in August 1951. The FAA Airport Station is now known as Easterwood Field.

The 30-year climatological averages are from the College Station FAA Airport (Easterwood Field) but the extremes and other temperature and rainfall records are from all sources.

The observation site has not moved since 1951 and remains at Easterwood Field.

2023 ALSO ENDS AS THE HOTTEST YEAR OF RECORD GLOBALLY

Preliminary data from NOAA and analysis from the Climate Change Institute at the University of Maine show that the global temperature anomaly in 2023 was higher than the previous record of 2016′s 1.78°F above average. 2016 also started the year with a strong El Niño in place, but only 0.22°F of the 1.78° anomaly was attributed to the phenomena, meaning human-induced climate change and other weather features played a prominent role

Europe’s Copernicus Climate Change Service and the World Meteorological Organization both said late in 2023 that it was a virtual assurance that 2023 would end as the hottest in both organization’s calculations as well.

Final averages and official records should be available later this month as NOAA, NASA, and other agencies across the globe finish their calculations.

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