2022 ends as one of the warmest in Brazos Valley history

BRYAN, Texas (KBTX) - 2022 brought the Brazos Valley several months of above-average temperatures. It will be a year that summer heat and drought will be compared to after tying as the all-time hottest June-July-August of record with 2011. All in, all done, the average temperature for the year ended at 71.0°, making it the 4th warmest in Bryan-College Station’s 140 years of record keeping.

A combination of La Niña conditions -- cooler waters over the Equatorial Pacific, off-and-on periods of extreme drought, and climate change lead to the exceptional heat across Texas and the Brazos Valley this past year. That heat began to build over the spring, as the area went on a five-month run of top 10 warmest experienced since weather records began in 1882.

April: 7th Hottest on record
May: 2nd Hottest on record
June: Absolute hottest ever recorded
July: Absolute hottest ever recorded
August: 6th Hottest on record

June outpaced 1998 as the hottest ever to be recorded with an average temperature of 87.6°, breaking the previous record of 86.7°. July did the same to 2009 with an average temperature of 90.2°, breaking the previous record of 89.1°. Both months ended 4° warmer than what is typically expected, per the 30-year-average.

Easterwood Airport reached a high temperature of 111° on July 10th, tying the second hottest temperature ever on record. Huntsville touched 112° that same day. The year ended with 57 days at or above 100° -- the second most triple-digit days experienced behind 2011′s 69.

Rainfall at Easterwood Airport in 2022(KBTX)

Rainfall was tough to come by some months and highly uneven for many of the events that brought wet weather to the Brazos Valley. The year officially ended with 35.12″ of rain falling at Easterwood Airport, a 6.63″ deficit compared to the 30-year-average. July only managed 0.01″ in the gauge at the reporting site while December became the wettest month, leaving behind over 5″ of rainfall. For another year, October fell drastically short of what is typically expected to be the wettest month due to a delay of the season’s first cold fronts making it to Central and Southeast Texas.