It's not you — Austin really is getting hotter in the spring
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Spring is getting warmer overall and featuring more unusually hot days in most U.S. cities, including Austin, a new analysis finds.
Case in point: Temperatures on Thursday could reach 91 degrees. The historically normal high for March 13 is 72, per National Weather Service data.
Why it matters: Warmer springs can heighten wildfire risks and worsen allergies, among other effects.
How it works: Nonprofit climate research and communications organization Climate Central examined 55 years of U.S. temperature data for 241 cities, and found that the meteorological spring season of March through May has warmed by a national average of 2.4 degrees.
- In an analysis released last month, the group found that 97% of the 241 cities analyzed saw a warming trend for the season.
Zoom in: Austin saw an increase of 3.6 degrees since 1970, and now has 20 more spring days with temperatures above normal, per Climate Central.
The big picture: The spring warming in the U.S. is taking place in tandem with increasing temperatures around the world due to human emissions of greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas.