If this summer has felt particularly unbearable, it's not just you.

The summer of 2019 turned out to be the seventh-hottest on record in Austin, tying the swelter of 1980, according to the Lower Colorado River Authority, which keeps a close eye on weather as manager of the Highland Lakes, a regional water source. In both years, the average temperature for the season, which meteorologists count as the months of June, July and August, was 86.2 degrees, according to the LCRA. But that's not all.

Last month was the second-hottest August on record for the Austin area with an average temperature of 89.9 degrees, according to the National Weather Service. Only four days in August had high temperatures below 100 degrees. With air conditioners at full blast, the demand for electricity in Texas set a record Aug. 12, when peak demand reached 74,531 megawatts between 4 and 5 p.m., according to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which operates the power grid for most of the state.

So, what gives?

First, a wetter than normal spring has actually left Austin with a 2.77-inch surplus of annual rainfall as of Friday, thanks in part to an April rainfall total that was more than 5 inches above normal and a May total that was 3 inches above normal.

The extra rainfall had kept the ground cool, but since July, Austin has been nearly bone dry, allowing days to more easily warm up. Temperatures finally reached triple-digits in Austin about halfway through July.

Austin's rainy pattern typically turns off come July, said LCRA meteorologist Bob Rose. That became evident this year when Camp Mabry recorded only 1.9 inches of rain over July and August, and only 0.04 inch of rainfall at the airport during the same two months, according to the weather service.

"It was an interesting summer," University of Texas meteorology lecturer Troy Kimmel said. "I was kind of thinking we'd escape some 100-degree temperatures and, in hindsight, we did not."

Once Friday temperatures set a daily record high of 103, Austin recorded its 43rd day with a temperature of 100 degrees or higher this year. That means 2019 has already produced more 100-degree days in Austin than 2017, the city's warmest year ever.

Rose said that, while plenty of hot days during the summer are typical for Central Texas, this summer's swelter can be blamed on a system of high atmospheric pressure sitting over the Austin area that has been keeping the air dry and clear.

Even though this summer defied expectations and kept us sweating, it was nothing compared with the summer of 2011, which still holds the record for Austin's hottest ever with 90 days of triple-digit temperatures and an average temperature of 89.5 degrees, according to the weather service and the LCRA.

Most states experience the start of fall with the start of September. But Texas isn't most states.

"From my perspective, September is still going to be a pretty warm month," Rose said. "No big cold fronts are coming our way over the next two to three weeks."

Relief should come eventually in the fall when the sun starts setting sooner. Temperatures can start to cool down during shorter days because they have less time to heat up, Rose said.