San Antonio Officials Sound Alarm on Summer Heat Crisis as Temperatures Push Past 105°F

San Antonio hit 107°F on Wednesday, the fifth consecutive day above 104°F, and city officials are no longer speaking cautiously about what that means for the roughly 1.5 million people living here. The Bexar County Medical Examiner's office confirmed three heat-related deaths since Monday, and Metro Health Director Dr. Claude Jacob issued an expanded public advisory Thursday morning urging residents to limit outdoor exposure between 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. through at least July 10.

The urgency is hard to overstate. Europe recorded more than 2,000 excess deaths during a recent heatwave peak, and public health researchers have spent the past two years warning that inland Sun Belt cities like San Antonio — with large low-income populations, aging housing stock, and limited tree canopy in key neighborhoods — face disproportionate risk. The South Side and the East Side, where median household incomes run roughly 40 percent below the city average, have fewer cooling resources per capita than the North Side's Stone Oak or Alamo Heights corridors.

San Antonio's Office of Emergency Management opened 14 cooling centers across the city Thursday, including locations at the Claude Black Community Center on Iowa Street and the Copernicus Community Center on Lord Road on the West Side. CPS Energy, the city-owned utility, confirmed it handled more than 4,200 calls Wednesday related to power outages or billing assistance — its highest single-day volume since August 2023. The utility's Bill Reduction Program, which offers income-qualified customers up to $150 in summer credits, has a current waitlist of more than 900 households.

What Experts and Advocates Are Saying

Officials from the San Antonio Housing Authority told reporters Thursday that more than 11,000 units in its portfolio lack central air conditioning or have aging HVAC systems flagged for replacement. The agency's Energy Efficiency Upgrade Initiative, funded partly through a $28 million HUD grant awarded in March 2025, is scheduled to reach only 800 units by year's end. Advocates from the nonprofit Esperanza Peace and Justice Center on South Brazos Street have been blunt: the pace of upgrades is too slow for a crisis arriving now, not in 2028.

Bexar County Judge Peter Sakai held a press conference at the Paul Elizondo Tower on Main Plaza Thursday afternoon, emphasizing that the county's emergency declaration — in effect since July 1 — unlocks state reimbursement for cooling center operations and emergency staffing. He confirmed the county is in contact with the Texas Division of Emergency Management about possible mutual aid resources. Still, local emergency planners acknowledge the system is stretched. The 14 cooling centers serve a city of more than 1.5 million people spread across 461 square miles.

VIA Metropolitan Transit extended free rides on all fixed routes through July 6 to help residents reach cooling centers without cost, a measure the agency used briefly during the 2023 heat emergency. Public health researchers at UT Health San Antonio have been tracking heat-related emergency room visits at University Hospital on Floyd Curl Drive, and preliminary data shows a 38 percent spike in such visits during the past seven days compared to the same period last year.

What Comes Next for Residents

The National Weather Service office in New Braunfels is forecasting no meaningful relief before July 12, when a weak cold front may push daytime highs back below 100°F. Until then, city officials are asking residents to check on elderly neighbors, avoid leaving children or pets in vehicles, and report utility emergencies directly to CPS Energy at its 24-hour hotline rather than waiting for a service appointment.

San Antonio's Office of Sustainability is also pushing forward a proposal to expand tree canopy coverage in the urban core under its SA Climate Ready plan, though that work addresses years-ahead conditions, not this weekend. For now, the practical advice from Metro Health is simple: stay inside during peak hours, drink water without waiting to feel thirsty, and know where your nearest cooling center is before the temperature climbs again Friday morning.