Scientists: Climate change boosting Texas' record May heat

Forecasters are calling it ‘one of the more dramatic temperature swings in recent memory.’ Extreme heat brought in by a high-pressure system will build across Texas. Daily and monthly high-temperature records could be tied or broken through the weekend.

While it is not impossible to get this hot – in fact, it’s almost a given, it is unusual to experience this type of heat in May as opposed to July or August.

High temperatures are forecast to run 10 to 25 degrees warmer than average through the third weekend of May. The most intense heat will be across southwest Texas where air temperatures will likely exceed 110 degrees.

The National Weather Service offices have issued Extreme Heat advisories and Extreme Heat warnings ahead of the scorching triple-digit heat

What is to blame?

Climate Central, a non-profit scientific organization, continues to study the effects of human-caused climate change and its impacts on people and the environment. Climate Central created the Climate Shift Index (CSI) to better communicate the effects of a changing climate.

The CSI ranges from -5 to +5. Positive values indicate temperatures that are becoming more likely due to climate change. Shel Winkley, a certified meteorologist with Climate Central, says the CSI shows the extreme heat Texas is facing in May is a +5. To make matters worse, he says that this is a trend he’s noticed over the years

“Climate change has a really big role here especially in making the extremes more extreme,” says Winkley, “we know that our extremely hot days, the hottest days is that each individual place in Texas experiences — they’re increasing. They are not increasing by a little bit each year; they’re increasing 10 days or more.”

Our team of meteorologists dives deep into the science of weather and breaks down timely weather data and information. To view more weather and climate stories, check out our weather blogs section.