After Monday’s high of 104 degrees, Waco’s summer became one of the 10 hottest on record, according to the National Weather Service.

Monday was the 19th consecutive day the high temperature equaled or topped 100 degrees, according to the National Weather Service.

Wade Auto Body employee Nick Zufall cools off Monday with a Kona Ice while taking a break from work.
Duane A. Laverty / Waco Tribune-Herald

That figure put this summer in a three-way tie for the 10th-longest streak with 1999 and 1951.

The record of 42 straight days was set in 1980.

For construction workers who make their living working outside, the unusually hot summer means early starts and lots of liquids.

“These guys have access to all the ice and water they want,” said Henry Ward, the foreman of McLennan County’s Precinct 1 road and bridge crew.

“We don’t want anyone getting overheated, and so far this summer we haven’t had that happen,” Ward said.

The crew’s workers wrapped up resurfacing roads in southern McLennan County on Monday afternoon.

They’re scheduled to tackle another stretch of county-owned road Wednesday morning starting at 6 a.m., Ward said.

Today is projected to be as warm as Monday, with a high of 102 degrees.

Temperatures are likely to stay in the 100s through the work week, according to Jennifer Dunn, a NWS meteorologist.

If the forecast holds, this summer’s streak will hit 23 by Friday, which is on par with the seventh-longest streak on record, set in 1952.

That’s still two days shy of last summer, when there were 25 straight 100 degrees or warmer days.

Motorists drive through a brief rain on Interstate 35 near New Road in Waco on Monday morning.
Duane A. Laverty / Waco Tribune-Herald

Ted Ryan, another NWS meteorologist, said temperature records for Waco date back to 1902.

Half of the 12 longest streaks, and three of the top five, were recorded in the past 25 years.

Downtown rain

Waco, which is in a drought like much of Texas, received some rain showers Monday.

Dunn said the rain, which fell downtown, missed Waco Regional Airport, but a brief shower later in the evening was measured there.

She estimated the storm dropped less than a tenth of an inch of rain on areas of Waco.

mshapiro@wacotrib.com

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