The National Weather Service climate station at Wichita Falls Municipal Airport, the benchmark used for Texoma heat records, reached 103 degrees on Thursday, Sept. 3. That was the 48th day this year the station has touched 100 or better, and the weather service office in Norman expects the pattern to hold through the holiday weekend.
Norman's Sept. 4 area forecast discussion called for triple-digit temperatures to continue, with heat index readings possibly above 105 degrees from Friday night into Sunday night. The official point forecast keeps Wichita Falls at or near 102 degrees every day from Friday through Labor Day, dipping a single degree on Sunday. Thursday's high ran 11 degrees above the 1991-2020 normal for the date, according to the Wichita Falls climate report.
Cooke County sits in the same hot air with lower numbers on the board. The weather service's Fort Worth office forecast Gainesville highs in the upper 90s Friday and Saturday, near 99 on Sunday, and 100 on Labor Day. On the day Wichita Falls hit 103, the gauge at Gainesville Municipal Airport read 94.
The season totals differ as well. Regional Climate Center data show fewer 100-degree days at the Gainesville airport than at Wichita Falls, though the first three weeks of January are missing from that feed, so the local count is a partial one. Counts through Sept. 3 across the area:
| Station | Days at or above 100 |
| --- | ---: |
| Wichita Falls | 48 |
| Lawton | 47 |
| Dallas-Fort Worth | 39 |
| Sherman-Denison | 33 |
| Gainesville | 29 |
The Wichita Falls record reaches back to 1897. The 48-day total ties 1970 for 22nd in that record, with 21 earlier years higher. The weather service lists 2011 at 100 such days, including an unbroken run of 52 days from late June into August, and 1980 at 79 days.
A hot year, but well behind the Wichita Falls benchmark summers
The 2026 count runs through Sept. 3; the other years are full-season totals.
Source: NWS Norman heat climatology for Wichita Falls; Regional Climate Center daily maximums
Rain has been the shorter supply. Through Sept. 3, the Wichita Falls climate report showed the year running roughly four inches behind normal precipitation.
Wichita Falls rainfall, Jan. 1 through Sept. 3
Rain so far in 2026
15.14 inches
Where the year should stand
19.11 inches, a 3.97-inch deficit
Source: NWS Wichita Falls climate report, Sept. 3, 2026
NOAA's Texas climate summary reports that statewide temperatures have risen almost 1.5 degrees since the beginning of the 20th century, and it projects historically unprecedented warming this century with more extreme heat events, including an increase of 20 to 30 days above 95 degrees by 2055 under one pathway. The same summary identifies 2011 as the state's warmest summer in records going back to 1895 and the year Texas set its record for the average number of 100-degree days. NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information reported that July 2026 averaged 3.3 degrees above the 20th-century average across the contiguous states, the warmest month in a 132-year record.
The official all-time high at Wichita Falls remains 117 degrees, set June 28, 1980.
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