Surprised by some rare cloud cover, Dallas residents on Thursday fell a day short of tying their all-time record for consecutive days at 100 degrees or above.
Temperatures in Dallas had reached or exceed the 100-degree mark every day since July 2. The average temperature had been 103 degrees until Thursday, when it topped out at 98 degrees.
The city was on track to break the previous record, set in 1980, of 42 consecutive days of 100-degree heat.
1980 also set the record for the most days (69) in a single year with temps at 100 or above, and it's still not too late for Dallas to beat that one since it's at 47 so far.
"Is there enough summer to clock in another 20 days of triple digit heat?" Weather Channel meteorologist Mike Seidel posed. "Considering what’s forecast over the next couple of weeks and the fact that Dallas-Fort Worth has hit 100 as late as October 3rd, they could do it."
At least a few residents were a little disappointed at the possibility of not consecutive days breaking the record after living through such a hot summer.
"I want it to go ahead and prove that I'm right about this summer being worse than 1980," said Dr. Al Roberts, an internal medicine professor at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas who said even his pool hasn't provided him relief from the heat. "It's like swimming in pea soup," he said.
Bert Moore, dean of the School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences at the University of Texas at Dallas, said rooting for the streak was a way for people to "create something memorable out of their misery."
"I told my wife that I wanted it to break the record," Moore said, then added, "Maybe I'd trade the record for a little rain."
Others were grateful for any kind of break from the heat.
"I didn't expect it to be this nice today," said Sherise Adams as she took a drag on her cigarette outside a restaurant at the Galleria Dallas shopping mall. "It feels good out here. One hundred degrees and over is ridiculous. The humidity is crazy. It messes up my hair."
Valet Jorge Medrano also said he was happy to see the streak end.
"We could wait 100 more years for the record to be broken," he said.
But the relief likely won't last long. Temperatures were expected to be as high as 103 by next week and are predicted to at least hit 100 on Friday.
Even though Dallas-Fort Worth's the streak of 100-degree days may have ended, the area has broken other records this summer. National Weather Service meteorologist Joe Harris said the first five days of August in the Dallas-Fort Worth area set new highs and set or tied all of the highest minimum temperatures.
Some Texas cities, including Waco and Tyler, have broken their record for 100-degree consecutive days. Tyler's previous record was 20 days in a row in 1998, and it has had 45 straight days of 100-degree weather as of Thursday. Waco has 43 consecutive 100-degree days, one more than the 1980 record.
The heat is also taking a toll on local playing fields, hardening the ground and leaving fields pitted with clumps of dried up grass.
"It's dangerous," parent Amy Herzog told NBC Dallas-Fort Worth. "We actually had an email just the other day from our coach saying that before our practice, he's going to have to get onto the field and decide what area, if any, on the field is going to be usable for the safety of the kids."