The 10 Hottest Summers in Dallas History

The high temperature in Dallas on Monday reached 95 degrees. People all over town got into their cars in uncovered parking after a long day at work and could not deny it any longer: summer is upon us. Well, to be clear, the first official day of summer is Friday, June 20, but for North Texans, summer heat arrives well before the calendar tells us the season has started.

No matter where one looks, the summer forecasts all predict pretty much the same thing for Dallas in 2025: pain… sorry, we mean warmth — and lots of it.

It’s easy to feel as though each summer is hotter than the last one, but that hasn’t been the case here in North Texas for some time. That’s not to say that many of the most recent summer seasons haven't been among the hottest on record for Dallas-Fort Worth, but believe it or not, even the scorcher we endured last year isn’t in the top 10 hottest DFW summers ever.

Well, which summers are the hottest on record for Dallas-Fort Worth?

We’re glad you asked. Here are the hottest Dallas summers ever, according to the National Weather Service.

2011 - 90.5 degrees

Ninety degrees doesn’t sound very hot, does it? But as an average over the span of three months, it’s downright unbearable. August 2011 was the hottest month ever for Dallas, in fact. Over the course of the year, Dallas recorded 71 non-consecutive 100-degree days, which also broke the old record.

HOTTEST DAYS EVER RECORDED in DFW happened on this day and into tomorrow 39 years ago! The Metroplex baked at a scorching 113° degrees on June 26/27 of 1980. To put this into perspective, we had BELOW normal highs in the low 90s today. It could always be worse! #wfaaweather pic.twitter.com/8rqViS8AGG

— Pete Delkus (@wfaaweather) June 26, 2019

1980 - 89.2 degrees

All of those records that the heat of 2011 beat? Those once belonged to the summer of 1980. However, according to the National Weather Service and WFAA meteorologist Pete Delkus, 1980 still holds the record for the hottest single temperature in Dallas history, with 113 degrees being recorded on June 26 and 27. It was so hot in 1980 that, according to The Dallas Morning News, “people performed a rain dance near the Turtle Creek fountain across from Lee Park in Dallas, asking those who couldn't attend to ‘concentrate their thoughts on thundershowers to provide enough energy to manifest a rainfall.’”

2023 - 88.7 degrees

So there, we’re finally getting to one of these more recent summers. There were over 40 days with 100-degree heat or higher and on August 25, the temperature reached a boiling 100 degrees. That was the same day the Dallas Cowboys traded for young QB Trey Lance. You might remember him as the savior of the team … oh, never mind.

1998 - 88.3 degrees

The hottest day of 1998 was July 12, when folks saw their thermometers hit 110 degrees. That must’ve been rough on all those black T-shirt wearers at the Iron Maiden concert that night at the very much outdoors Coca-Cola Starplex. We hear it was quite the rager.

2022 - 88.2

In 2022, there were 47 days of 100-degree heat, 21 of which occurred consecutively from July 16 to August 5.

1954 - 87.7

So now we're going way back. And since central air conditioning wasn't common in Texas in 1954, those of us who weren't around then can only imagine how stifling that must've been, while being thankful the grid is holding up thus far in 2025.

1952 - 87.5

See above note regarding 1954. Yikes.

2010, 2008, 1934 - 87.4

A three-way tie rounds out the top 10 hottest summers ever in Dallas' history. The hottest day of the year in 1934 was July 28, when the temperature hit 107 degrees. That's a lot to contend with, considering there was a 21.7% unemployment rate that year as the nation endured the Great Depression.