There’s no getting around it: it’s hot, Austin.
The dogs days of summer bring along excessive heat warnings + 100° temperatures, so we’re staying inside and looking back at some of the headlines on the hottest days we’ve had here in the Capital City.
The day the heat set records
Austin’s hottest day on record took place on September 5, 2000, when temperatures hit a record-breaking 112°.
That sure puts this weather in perspective, huh? The closest we’ve come to that temperature in the past few weeks was when temps reached 101° on Wednesday, Aug. 7.
On Austin’s hottest day, the Austin-American Statesman reported on local grave hunters.
Clipping via Newspapers.com
What the headlines said
So, what else was going on in Austin on the hottest day on record? Looking back, the city’s newspapers reported on cemeteries — groups that aimed to protect them, and Austinites that worked as “grave hunters” who traced family roots. (The Austin-American Statesman’s advertisements serve as a major sign of time times; forget the iPhone, we were still rocking Nokia.)
The papers also covered the intense weather we were having at the time, saying that the record was set “as Central Texas [was] plagued by fires [and] power outages.”
How to weather the weather today
Ok, so we’re not breaking records (yet), but that doesn’t mean braving this weather is easy. Thankfully, we have 20+ museums to explore indoors, bars with pools to cool down, and icy treats to indulge in.
Don’t forget to check in on our city’s inclement weather resources and take a peek at what the rest of the season has in store for us. Who knows, maybe this will be a record-breaking year after all.
