Heat in Coastal Willacy, Texas

The third day of a trifecta of dangerous heat saw the Automated Surface Observing System (ASOS) at Cameron County Airport record a peak heat index value 112.6F during the mid afternoon (12 miles south of the Willacy County line). By proxy, it is generally assumed that coastal Willacy County (west of Laguna Madre) observed a 3-hour period of advisory-level heat index (111 to 113 in this case).

As developing Tropical Storm Arthur moved along the middle Texas coast (June 17) and as a degenerated low pressure system along the Louisiana Coast (June 18), very hot air descended on the southern tip of Texas, with record extreme heat index, or feels-like, temperatures for the entire region on the 18th. The high heat index values held on into June 19th, before unsettled weather brought slightly lower temperatures and pockets of rain by the 20th, which ended the short but brutal window of extreme heat.