Austin weather history: The hottest, coolest and wettest ACL festivals

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AUSTIN (KXAN) — From the triple digits to the 60s, and from drought to deluge, the Austin City Limits music festival has seen a variety of wild weather since its inception in 2002.

KXAN dug through the archives to find the hottest, coolest and wettest ACL festivals in history.

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Hottest & coolest ACL festivals

The first several years of the festival were held in September, but more recent additions have been in October. Austin’s average highs during that time of the year range from the low 90s in mid September to the low 80s by mid October.

But one festival stands far and away above the rest as the hottest of all time. Day 3 of 2005’s edition of the festival saw high temperatures in Austin reach 107°, making it the only festival day ever recorded in the triple digits.

Eight ACL days have seen high temperatures below 80°, including Day 5 of the 2019 festival, which saw a high of only 65°, making it the coolest festival day ever seen.

Since 2002, the average high temperature on each festival day has been 88°.

Wettest ACL festivals

While rain isn’t a guarantee during the ACL festival, several weekends have had much more than their fair share.

In 2013, more than 6″ of rain fell during Weekend 2 of the festival, including 4.22″ on Oct. 13 alone. Heavy thunderstorms trained over the Austin metro area that morning, flooding Zilker Park can causing officials to cancel the final day of the festival.

Two other ACL weekends have seen more than an inch of rain: Weekend 2 of 2014 and Weekend 2 of 2018.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, 15 festival weekends have been bone dry.

More from our Austin Weather History series:

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