The Panhandle, a place famed for extreme weather, never saw it quite like Friday, when the blistering heat set an all-time record.

Temperatures in Amarillo soared to 109 at 4:35 p.m., breaking the mark of 108, reached four times since the National Weather Service began keeping records in 1892.

Borger was even hotter at 110, topping its all-time high of 107 set in 1980.

The battle to keep cool triggered still another record. Xcel Energy recorded peak usage of 5,755 megawatts, breaking the mark of 5,616 set June 16, spokesman Wes Reeves said.

No relief is in sight. The weather service forecast highs of 105 today and 104 Sunday.

A large ridge of high pressure has sparked the latest heat wave, said Sarah Johnson, a meteorologist for the weather service in Amarillo.

The development is typical of this time of year, but the duration this time is different, she said.

"The ridge has been here for about a week," she said. "It's being pretty stubborn."

Friday was the 13th time this year temperatures reached 100 or higher in Amarillo. The record for the most days in triple digits is 26 in 1953.

Remarkably, the year began with historic chill - temperatures plunged to minus 6 on Feb. 10 and minus 5 on Feb. 3, record lows for those dates.

Dry air has driven the wide swings in temperatures, Johnson said.

Without moisture in the atmosphere, the air warms up and cools down much faster, she said.

There's no explaining record cold in February and record heat in June, Johnson said.

"This is just an abnormal weather pattern," she said.

Along with the extreme temperatures, Amarillo has endured a drought that threatens to break still more records. Just 0.68 inch of precipitation has been recorded this year, 8.11 inches below the average and the driest start to a year for Amarillo on record.

"It has been exceptionally dry here for any year," Johnson said.

Amarillo has gone 45 days without measurable rainfall. The longest stretch the city has gone without rain was 75 days in 1956.

The struggle to cope, like the impact, is deepening.

Two area towns have enacted water restrictions because of pump failures on municipal wells. Wellington and Sunray utility crews were working to restore service while residents held off watering lawns and washing cars.

Wellington lost production in one of its four wells, and the City Council implemented water restrictions Thursday.

"It was just a mechanical failure. We've pulled the well and are in the process of repairing it, and hopefully in the next few days we'll get it back online," said Jon Sessions, city manager.

The town's 2,300 residents are not permitted to water lawns, fill up swimming pools or wash cars while the restrictions are in place, he said.

The ban includes the operation of local car washes.

Lost production amounts to about 300 gallons per minute, about the same as each of the operating wells. A new pump has been ordered. Sessions did not know how much it would cost to replace.

"We will review those restrictions and decide then about removing restrictions," he said.

"Some restrictions may remain. We haven't crossed that bridge yet."

Sunray residents received water from two of three municipal wells after losing a pump Thursday.

"We're just asking people to restrict their outside water usage, not to water lawns or wash cars," said Cindy Morton, billing clerk for the town of 1,800. "If the police see your lawn sprinklers on, they will stop and ask you to turn them off."

Utility crews were installing a new pump Friday, Morton said.

"They are expecting to have it repaired, if not (Friday), sometime over the weekend," she said.

The lack of rainfall forced Amarillo's Wildcat Bluff Nature Center to cancel "Bug Out," an interactive session scheduled for today that was designed to help visitors learn about insects native to the Texas Panhandle.

"The water level in the well has dropped 112 feet in the past two years, and there was only 1.5 (feet) left in the bottom. The pump is also almost worn out from many years of service," according to a post on the nature preserve's Facebook page.

"It just went dry," said Mary Emeny, a Wildcat Bluff board member.

"We'll have to drill a new well, probably substantially deeper than the one we have. We have to have money for that, but it will be sooner rather than later."

Emeny said the nature center's trails are still open, but the center isn't hosting any groups or public events until a new well is up and running.

While it's been one of the driest years on record in Texas, the northern plains and Midwest have battled flooding, both a product of the La Nina effect, which has pushed the storm track north, said Gary McManus, the associate state climatologist for Oklahoma.

"The country is basically cut in half," he said.

The strong La Nina here resulted in temperatures spiking and moisture vanishing.

Under the effect, sea temperatures are lower than normal, which affects jet-stream patterns and takes moisture away from the region, Johnson said.

The La Nina started at the end of 2010 and officially ended June 9.

Johnson said, it usually takes the atmosphere a month or two to respond and return to more typical weather.

Even that change might not satisfy the region's thirst for rain. Storm tracks usually head north at this time of year, McManus said.

Still, as the atmospheric conditions shift, Amarillo is expected to receive average or above-average precipitation from now through late August, according to the weather service. Average highs in those months usually range from the upper 80s to the low 90s. Temperatures are expected to remain above normal.

Johnson said it is hard to attribute the weather in one location during one season to global warming because it happens over a long period of time on a global scale.

"It's like going to a football game and blaming the football team for getting in a car wreck on your way home," she said.