DALLAS - Wichita Falls has become the first Texas city to have 100 days of triple-digit temperatures in one year, the same day the Dallas-Fort Worth area joined the state's long list of cities with a record number of 100-degree days in 2011.
Not far from Oklahoma state line in North Texas and home to the Hotter 'N Hell Hundred bike race every summer, Wichita Falls had already broken its one-year record for 100-degree days weeks ago by Tuesday. The previous mark of 79 came in 1980, which was the benchmark for Texas heat waves before this year.
"When you consider the previous record was 79 and that was considered the monster of all summers, to exceed that by ... (25 percent) is pretty astounding," Victor Murphy of the National Weather Service said.
Meteorologist Garry Seith of CBS News affiliate KTVT-TV in Dallas reported on CBS' "The Early Show" Wednesday that the state's average temperature of 86.8 degrees makes Texas' summer the hottest any state has ever recorded.
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