In brief: This is the first in a series of World Cup-related posts for Houston and our visitors. In this one, we tackle typical June weather in Houston and introduce folks to some insider knowledge to help manage the weather in the Bayou City.

For our regular Space City Weather readers, you’ll already know a lot of this, but perhaps a nice refresher can’t hurt! And for those of you visiting Houston for the World Cup or coming to our fair city for the first time, here are some weather and community things to know! We’ll have some additional World Cup themed posts in the coming days.

Pick your outdoor time carefully

Houston’s all about the heat in summer. I’ve been a meteorologist in Houston for 14 years now, and while August is by far our most oppressive month, June begins the process of testing you. Average highs through June increase to about 93 degrees by the time Germany and Curaçao take the pitch this weekend. Morning lows aren’t much better. While they average about 75 degrees, that usually comes with a good bit of humidity.

The first piece of advice: Utilize the evening hours for outdoor exercise. Houston usually gets a nice sea breeze off the Gulf that arrives in the city around 5 or 6 PM. That can come with increased humidity, but once temperatures begin to level off during the evening hours, the breeze offsets it a good bit. Conversely, the mornings can be still, thick, and rather gross.

If you do need to get out for a run or walk, Houston has a wonderful and underrated park system. Hermann Park is a particular jewel in the middle of the Museum District north of Reliant Stadium and the Texas Medical Center, with trails, a delightful Japanese garden, a golf course, the Houston Zoo, and much more. Hermann Park is also adjacent to or a short walk from the Museum of Natural Science, Museum of Fine Arts, Children’s Museum, and Health Museum, among others.

Some Houston June temperature superlatives: The hottest recorded temperature during the period of the World Cup in Houston was 107 degrees back on June 29, 2013. 100 degrees or better has been achieved 67 times through the June 14 to July 4 period. So, brace yourself, you wild Oranjefans and stay hydrated!

Move that water

To the outside, Houston is known as Space City because of its prominent place in U.S. space history, but the official nickname is the Bayou City. Houston is divided up by a network of bayous, each with its own character and watershed. The bayous serve a natural purpose by conveying water from the frequent downpours the areas receives through the region and out into Galveston Bay and eventually the Gulf. Despite dividing up the city, they will also connect many neighborhoods through a complex and massive trail system known as the Bayou Greenways. The intent is that people will be able to get across much of the city via the trail network in the future.

But the bayous are ultimately the freeway network for water here in Houston, and we get a lot of it. Houston averages about 52 inches of rain per year, which is about 13 inches more than Seattle. The difference is that in Houston, when it rains, it rains. Our wettest month of the year on average is June, when the city normally receives about 6 inches of rain. However, that can vary. In June of 2004, we received over 18 inches of rain here in Houston, with no tropical storms and eight days of an inch or more. The following June, we received less than one-tenth of an inch of rain over the entire month. So far this month, we’re tracking wetter, with some places seeing -a lot- of rain.

And this after a wet May.

Much like it does season to season, summertime thunderstorms in Houston will vary from place to place. A typical summer day features thunderstorms developing near the coast or just inland in the morning hours, moving into the city and north and west during the afternoon hours. But many areas will hear thunder or see nothing at all, while a few places pick up an inch or two of rain. The dividing line between “rain o’clock” and nothing at all can be razor thin all summer long. We seem to have this pattern already well established this month, so as long as there remains available atmospheric moisture, we should expect daily thunder chances in the Houston area. Thankfully, the matches will be played indoors.

For folks visiting Houston, it’s important to understand that the rain here is probably not what you’re used to unless you live in the tropics. It falls hard, sometimes at a rate of 3 to 5 inches an hour. Flooding of streets happens frequently during the worst rain events. More serious flooding is rarer, but it does occasionally happen, and as a visitor to Houston, you should know two key things. First, Houston’s streets are a part of the drainage system. That’s not a typo. While the bayous serve as the first defense against flooding, the fact of the matter is that even the best drainage systems struggle to keep up with rain rates as intense as we see here in Houston. Thus, the street network sort of acts as a retention network for water. You’d rather have streets flood than buildings. Houston can’t engineer flooding away but this solution does mitigate it to a certain extent.

The second thing you should know is how to receive weather warnings. In most cases, your phone can prompt you about flash flood or tornado warnings. Brian Mason, the director of the Houston Office of Emergency Management recommends their AlertHouston mobile alert system. “We have created a special keyword for messaging during World Cup. Text HOUWC26 to 888777 to receive weather-related and other local emergency alerts from Houston Office of Emergency Management.” Some people may be wary of another push notification, but I would strongly encourage folks visiting to opt-in to these alerts during your time here.

Flooding can also be linked to tropical storms and hurricanes. Houston has not been directly impacted by a hurricane in June since 1921, but there have been numerous tropical storms including the infamous Allison in 2001, which deposited nearly 40 inches of rain on a portion of the city. The most recent early season hurricane was Beryl in early July of 2024, an intense category 1, almost category 2 storm that caused severe tree damage to the Houston area resulting in massive power disruptions. But cases like this are rare, and Houston’s more serious hurricane impacts typically don’t occur until August or September. As of right now, we are not expecting tropical activity in the Houston area this month.

In brief: In today’s post we discuss the amount of rainfall Houston received over the last two months, and show how it has completely wiped a drought off the map. Also, we look ahead to a sunnier weak with considerably less rain. Also, the World Cup starts here this weekend!

April and May showers brought an end to the drought

Over the course of the last two months, and culminating on Saturday, the greater Houston region has received beneficial rains. Although the precipitation put a damper on some outdoor activities, we managed to get a large amount of rainfall without too many serious flooding issues. That’s never easy in Houston. How much rain? Since the first week of April most of the region has received 150 to 200 percent of normal rainfall totals, which translates to 12 to 18 inches of rain for most.

Perhaps you don’t recall, but following a dry-ish winter and start to spring, the entire metro area (not to mention surrounding counties) had fallen into a drought. This ranged from a “moderate” drought in central Harris County to an ” extreme” drought for most of our surrounding counties. This boded ill as Houston faced the warmer months of late spring and summer. But then, of course, the last two months happened. You can use the slider below to compare our drought situation at the end of March to where we were at the beginning of June.

Now, I’m given to understand that not everyone likes rain. In fact, after our most recent outbreak of showers I’ve seen some people saying they’re sick and tired of the rain, and when is it going to get sunny already? Well, if that’s you, read on.

Monday

Clouds will linger today, along with a slight chance of showers, before high pressure settles in to assert control over our weather for much of the rest of the week. Accordingly high temperatures may only reach the upper 80s to 90 degrees later today. We are seeing a few light showers near thew coast this morning, and there’s the potential for some isolated thunderstorms this afternoon, especially for areas north of I-10. But overall rain chances are probably only about 20 percent. Winds will be from the south at about 10 mph, with gusts this afternoon from 15 to 20 mph. Lows tonight will only fall into the upper 70s.

Tuesday through Friday

This week will bring fairly similar conditions through the forecast period, with high temperatures generally in the low 90s, and overnight lows in the upper 70s to only around 80 degrees right along the coast. Skies will be partly to mostly sunny each day, with a warm southerly flow. Winds will be a bit gusty, from the south. As for rain chances, they’re not zero, but on a daily basis they’re not much higher than 10 or 20 percent. This week really will feel summer-like for Houston, so buckle up.

Saturday and Sunday

Houston’s weather will remain warm and humid this weekend, and we may see highs tip up a little bit further, generally topping out in the low- to mid-90s. It appears as though high pressure may back off a little bit, allowing for maybe a 20 percent chance of showers on Saturday, and perhaps a 30 or 40 percent likelihood on Sunday with a few more clouds. We shall see.

Speaking of this weekend, soccer (futbol) fans will well know that the first World Cup game in Houston comes on Sunday, June 14, when Germany faces Curaçao (a country of 155,000 people—imagine League City taking on Germany in soccer). Anyway, Matt has written a special weather post for World Cup visitors that we’re going to be publishing later this morning, so be sure and share that with anyone you know coming in from out of town. The games are indoors at Reliant Stadium, of course, but the weather for festivities before and after Sunday’s game looks fairly typical for mid-June.

Next week

At some point early next week, perhaps later on Sunday or Monday, we are likely to see somewhat better rain chances return to the region. But since this is a week or so out, I don’t have great confidence in the forecast.

In brief: Due to wet soils and the potential for slow moving storms, we are instituting a Stage 1 flood alert for the Houston region through Saturday evening. Please be weather aware and mindful of the potential for high water on roads.

Good morning! We hope everyone’s weekend is off to a good start. Looking at the radar at about 8:30 am CT, things are largely quiet with the exception of a few showers over Galveston Island. However with a moisture-laden atmosphere, we expect to see the development of widespread showers and thunderstorms later this morning and lasting through the afternoon hours.

To be clear, rivers, creeks, and bayous within the Houston metro area are all within their banks. However for much of the region, particularly central Houston, our grounds are saturated such that any additional rainfall today will quickly run into streets. Therefore we are likely to see street flooding develop more quickly than normal.

In terms of rainfall, for most of Houston, things will be just fine later today. However atmospheric conditions are supportive of heavy rainfall, and today we expect some storm motions to be slow. Therefore whereas most of the region may see a few tenths of an inch of rainfall, parts of the area may see 3 or more inches. The best chances for heavy rainfall today appear to be in Harris County, but the suburbs are also at risk.

Given all of this, we think there is a decent chance of some street flooding (i.e. low-lying roads, some feeder roads, etc.) today where rains are heaviest. Please be weather aware this afternoon and take more time during rain storms. Conditions should dry out overnight, but some additional storms are possible on Sunday, albeit not to the extent we think the Houston region will experience today.

In brief: While numerous rain showers will continue in the Houston area today and probably tomorrow, the overall trend will be toward slightly less coverage toward Sunday. This should lead to a rather classic June week next week with heat, humidity, and hopefully some cooling downpours each afternoon.

Numerous showers and thunderstorms have impacted the region the last few days. Pockets of the area have seen as much as 3 to 5 inches of rainfall. Are we heading for a repeat of last summer, where it rained basically every day somewhere? Too soon to say, but we’re off to a tolerable start to summer to say the least.

Today and tomorrow

We’ve got a batch of showers that’s been following I-45 south of Downtown and then 290 and 249 northwest of Downtown since the overnight hours.

For the rest of today, we are expecting numerous showers and some thunderstorms across the area. Coverage may focus away from the coast today. Some areas will skate around the rain, but others will cash in once more. We should do it once again tomorrow, though I would not be shocked if we see a few heavier storms embedded tomorrow too. We’ll top off in the mid-80s today and mid to perhaps upper-80s tomorrow if we have just a little less coverage.

Sunday

By the end of the weekend, rainfall coverage should back into more of a typical summer pattern. Heavier showers will be near the coast in the morning, then perhaps inland by afternoon. But overall coverage should begin to scale back some here. Highs will be around 90 degrees.

Next week

For most of next week, we establish a very June weather setup across Southeast Texas. Sun, clouds, isolated to scattered afternoon thunderstorms, heat, and humidity. Highs will be in the lower-90s, hopefully with many of us seeing some cooling afternoon downpours. One note about next week: I think we’re going to see nighttime lows start to rev up a bit.

We’ve only had four mornings this year above 75 degrees at Bush Airport (compared to 14 at this same point last year). We should string together several of them next week. As we prep for the endless World Cup events across the area, it’ll definitely feel the season. More for you Monday!