Thursday was hot, with record-breaking high temperatures reported at DFW International Airport, but it may get even hotter this weekend, according to the National Weather Service in Fort Worth.
Most of North Texas, including Dallas, Denton, Collin and Tarrant counties, were under an excessive heat warning through Friday evening, according to to the weather service. Dallas-Fort Worth was also under an air quality alert for both days.
The highest temperature on record for Aug. 17 was 107 in 1951, said Patricia Sánchez, a meteorologist for NWS Fort Worth. That record was broken shortly before 3 p.m., when the temperature at the airport reached 108.
Shortly after 4 p.m., it climbed to 109 — the highest on record this year, according to the weather service.
Dallas experienced a small cold front this week that pushed lows to 73 degrees Wednesday. No such relief is in sight for the next several days, Sánchez said.
“It will likely be hotter tomorrow and into Saturday as well,” she said.
The high Friday is expected to be 110 in Dallas and 111 in Fort Worth, according to the weather service. The heat index could rise to 112 in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, the weather service’s forecast showed.
The state’s main electrical grid operator, ERCOT, has asked residents and businesses to reduce their power usage in light of high electricity demand expected Thursday.
In addition to a spike in heat-related emergency calls, emergency crews in North Texas have had to respond to multiple wildfires this summer.
As of Tuesday, the western and northwestern portions of Dallas County were experiencing severe drought conditions, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. Nearly all of Tarrant County is experiencing a severe drought, while the northwestern part of the county was under an extreme drought, the drought monitoring map showed.
