It was one of the driest Septembers on record in Austin

September is the cruelest month. At least that’s the impression you get in Austin. With summer behind us and the beginning of fall, this month brings hope for the return of cooler and wetter weather. Then it often dashes those hopes with brutal heat and dryness.

This year was no exception, with the highest number of days in the 90s and almost no rainfall recorded all month.

“September was extremely dry,” Orlando Bermudez, a forecaster with the National Weather Service in New Braunfels, told KUT.

Bermudez said Austin averages about 2.94 inches of rain in September. This month, the weather station at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport recorded just 0.08 inches, with most of it occurring in the first few days of the month.

This makes it the third driest September ever recorded at the airport’s weather station, with September 2011 – a year of severe drought – retaining the top spot with just 0.01 inch of rain recorded.

1989, another drought year, remained in second place with 0.02 inches recorded.

The Camp Mabry weather station, located closer to downtown, recorded 0.37 inches of rain this month, making it the 11th driest September in the record books.

The lack of rain is quickly pushing Central Texas back into drought conditions, which have been alleviated by a wetter-than-average start to summer.

According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, only about 18% of Travis Country was classified as “abnormally dry” in mid-September. As of September 24, when the last drought report was issued, 88% of the county was drier than normal.

Bermudez said that in terms of year-to-date precipitation totals, Austin is still slightly above average, thanks to spring and early summer rains

He said this month’s dryness is accompanied by above-average heat, reaching into the 90s most days in September and October.

Temperatures are expected to reach 97 degrees on Tuesday, he said. “This is a result really close to the record. And if it doesn’t break the record, it will be well above normal by 8-10 degrees.”

As global warming accelerates, hotter and drier autumns are becoming more common in Austin and much of the world.

The coming months will probably continue this trend. The National Weather Service’s Climate Prediction Center shows that winter will be warmer and drier than usual across Texas.