Heat — Willacy, Texas

2023-09-24 · Willacy, Texas

Event narrative

The Brownsville/South Padre Island International Airport Automated Surface Observing System recorded four hours of apparent temperature of 111 or higher, with values peaking at just under 114 degrees between 1 and 2 PM. Harlingen/Valley International Airport only touched 111 degrees at around 3 PM CDT. Proxies with these locations as well as northern Kenedy/Kleberg County to the north suggest at least 2 hours of 111 degree or higher heat index values across inland Willacy. This was the hottest feeling day of the three-day late-September stretch.

Wider weather episode

The unrelenting pattern known as 'La Canicula' (the Dog Days of Summer) produced a final round of excessive heat just after astronomical summer (which ended on September 22) of 2023. Afternoon heat index values reached or exceeded 111 for several hours in these areas, and ambient temperatures were at or just below 100 degrees during the period.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1142688. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.