August's drought and extreme heat exacerbated each other in North Texas

August was both abnormally dry and unusually scorching, two patterns that exacerbated each other. No measurable rain fell in the month of August, one of only eight times across the National Weather Service's records that the month had just trace amounts of precipitation. At DFW International Airport, the official climate site for the region, there hasn't been measurable rain in over 50 days. The lack of rain can immediately be seen in D-FW's brown lawns, but the unusual lack of precipitation has also compounded the extreme heat North Texans have experienced. READ MORE: 'Constant state of stress': How to protect your trees from North Texas' brutal heat Tom Bradshaw, chief meteorologist at the weather service's Fort Worth office, said wetter soil and green, healthy vegetation release moisture into the air, which helps keep temperatures lower. Much of the energy in the atmosphere that could have gone to raising temperatures instead gets used up evaporating water, a process called evapotranspiration. This pattern brought milder temperatures to North Texas in June. Without precipitation, temperatures rise more quickly and climb to greater heights. 'The rainfall machine almost completely dried up on us,' Bradshaw said of the late summer conditions. 'After a while, there does tend to be a feedback loop.' With a persistent high pressure system over the region raising temperatures and no evapotranspiration to mitigate it, August brought an average high of 102 degrees, six degrees above normal. It was the first time in months that the average high was significantly above usual – but not the first time this year. In February and March, DFW International Airport also experienced below average rainfall and abnormally warm temperatures. Bradshaw said that while there's also a relationship between rainfall and temperature in the late winter, it's driven by other factors. Instead of soil dryness playing a role, he said higher temperatures in the late winter are more often driven by an absence of cloud cover. 'We had a pattern that led to fewer storm systems moving through,' Bradshaw said, 'and as a result you tended to have more sunny days.' READ MORE: With a heat wave roasting North Texas, when could Dallas cool off?