The Heat was so Intense it Caused the Asphalt to Bleed in Crockett, Texas

Summer officially started on June 21 but you would've thought it started in April with the heat that has settled in East Texas. If I remember correctly, KLTV had a graphic that said as of June 21 Tyler has had five 100 degree days, Longview has had four and Lufkin has had three. Those are the three major reporting stations in East Texas so that doesn't mean other areas have seen more days at or above 100 degrees. The extreme heat has also caused another issue in East Texas, bleeding asphalt. This happened in Crockett, Texas on Monday, June 20.

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Monday on the Lufkin TxDOT Facebook page, an alert was put out about bleeding asphalt on Loop 304 between Highway 21 and Highway 7 in Crockett.

What is Asphalt Bleeding?

Asphalt bleeding occurs when hot weather causes asphalt binder to expand onto the road surface. That binder can become sticky. In extreme cases, it can accumulate on your tires and in your wheel wells. It did not get to that point in this instance.

How is Bleeding Asphalt Treated?

There are a number of ways to treat bleeding asphalt including applying coarse sand to soak up the excess binder or, if extreme enough, resurfacing the highway. In this case in Crockett, a lime treatment was applied to help prevent the asphalt bleeding.

That section of road did not have to be closed but commuters did have to slow down for the work crews that were applying the lime treatment.

You don't need to be a meteorologist to know that it is, and gets, very hot in East Texas. We're expecting actually temperatures to get as high as 103 degrees by Sunday. Heat indexes will make it feel much hotter. Relief may not come until Monday, June 27, with a possible cold front bringing some much needed rain. Cross your fingers, do a rain dance, pray, whatever you need to do to make this possible.

As of this writing, 10:10 a.m. on June 22, there are five counties under burn bans. Its dry in East Texas and wildfires could quickly and easily spread. It would not be surprising to see more counties issue burn bans today or over the next few days.