Eric Berger

In brief: In today’s post we take stock of the good news, and the bad news about Houston’s weather so far this summer. Also, we look ahead to a blazing hot week. And we do mean blazing. Stay cool, y’all!

First, the good news

There are many ways of defining summer. Meteorologically, it lasts from June 1 through August 31. Practically, in Houston, it runs from mid-May through September. However what’s clear is that we are now a little more than half-way through summer. Plausibly, we are as little as six to eight weeks away from the first cool front of fall.

To date this summer has not been extraordinarily hot; rather we have been pretty much spot-on with normal temperatures for June and most of July. And finally, the greater Houston area (and much of the state of Texas) are drought free. This is often the season when droughts are typically blooming, but not this year. So all in all, so far this summer, we are doing pretty well.

Now, the bad news

I started this post with some positivity because, for most people, we are about to begin the grimmest time of year. August, the region’s hottest month, is days away. The next two weeks are, historically, the very warmest period for the city. And we are expected to have warmer than normal temperatures for at least the next week. So yeah, prepare to sweat.

The other thing is that we are nearing the height of hurricane season. For Texas, the peak lasts from mid-August through late September. So it is about time to buckle up. Crazily, the first two named storms of the season—Arthur and Bertha—both passed over the greater Houston area. Neither had super significant effects locally, but both were rainmakers for some parts of Texas and Louisiana. I have to tell you, we don’t want named storms hitting near us in August or September, when stronger storms are likely. Fortunately the next week or two, at least, things look quiet in the Gulf.

Finally, a word of thanks

I rely on a lot of people here at Space City Weather. We also have a great, long-term partner in Reliant who helps us keep the lights on. But most important of all is Matt Lanza, who stepped in last week to handle the site while I was on vacation, and wound up covering a low-end tropical storm. I take one week a year fully off from the site to recharge, and it happened to be last week. Thankfully we all survived and I’m back and in the saddle, ready for whatever the coming weeks will bring. Hopefully nothing of consequence!

Monday through Friday

This week is going to be downright hot. The reason? High pressure is in place, and at least through the work week it’s not going anywhere. For much of Houston that will mean high temperatures in the vicinity of 100 degrees, with overnight lows only falling to around 80 degrees. Coastal areas will see daytime highs a few degrees cooler. In terms of humidity, you guessed it, days and nights will be sticky. Skies will be mostly sunny. Rain chances will be near zero. And that, my friends, is pretty much all there is to say about this week’s forecast.

Saturday, Sunday, and beyond

Is the high pressure system going to move away? Most of our best medium-range models indicate that there is a chance of change this weekend. Highs may drop a few degrees, and rain chances may rise to the 30 percent range (or higher). Next week also looks slightly cooler, but perhaps that’s only because the coming week looks so dang hot.

In brief: The Texas Hill Country was battered by heavy rain again this week, culminating in numerous flash flood emergencies this morning. Rain will gradually decrease and pull away tonight and tomorrow. In this post, originally published by The Eyewall on Thursday morning, we provide additional context.

Hill Country, again

On Tuesday and Wednesday it rained heavily in areas west of San Antonio. Overnight and this morning, it rained torrentially. As a result, there is ongoing severe flash flooding in the area, including a flash flood emergency for Uvalde, Kerrville, and the Guadalupe River downstream of Kerrville.

Unfortunately, there is additional heavy rain coming for Uvalde and probably Medina and Kerrville as well. This will move through before lunchtime, and it may deposit another 1 to 3 inches of rain before things settle down this afternoon. During the July 4, 2025 tragedy, the heaviest rainfall fell in the Guadalupe watershed upstream from Kerrville, near or just west of Ingram.

On the Guadalupe River downstream from Kerrville in Comfort, the river rose over 30 feet in a matter of hours.

The outcome this time around has some notable differences from July 4th of last year. For one, the river rose higher at Comfort, likely due to the amount of water falling slightly farther downstream from 2025. It also rose “slower.” A 30 foot rise in 3 to 4 hours is incredible. Keep in mind, however, the water in 2025 accomplished a similar feat in 2 hours or less. Not to say this was a “gentle” rise, but it did not have quite the force and suddenness of last year’s. We also had 2 days of flooding leading into this in the area, so it should have been much more on people’s radars.

Now, the heaviest rain for this whole event has fallen near and north of Uvalde, more in the Nueces River watershed and Upper Frio River. The Frio below Uvalde right now has been raging. We had one crest yesterday over 19 feet, another this morning over 17 feet, and likely a third one coming.

The amount of rain that has fallen is really remarkable. Gauge corrected estimates are around 27 to 28 inches in areas just north of Uvalde over the last 3 days.

All this water is going to flow into the Nueces River. If you’re looking for some silver lining in all this, at least some of this water should be captured in Choke Canyon and Lake Corpus Christi, which would help further alleviate water supply issues in the Coastal Bend. Either way, the flooding right now is catastrophic near Uvalde and on the Guadalupe downstream from Kerrville. We don’t yet know the toll of this event, but the hope is that it should be less costly in human lives than 2025. Our thoughts are with those impacted areas at this time.

Going forward

Once the rain slows down this afternoon, we’ll get a break into evening in many impacted areas. The upper low that has been helping to drive the storminess in Texas is slowly backing toward New Mexico. This should lead to the focus of rain shifting west too.

While some isolated heavy downpours are possible once again near Kerrville and Uvalde, the heaviest rain tonight should fall near Ozona north into San Angelo. We’ll need to watch for flooding in those areas overnight, but the good news is that there has been far less preceding rainfall there like we saw in Uvalde and Kerrville the last few days. So hopefully the flooding issues tonight will be more standard flash flooding than this crazier stuff. But we’d strongly advise folks to take these rain forecasts seriously.

In brief: Houston’s flood risk has ended, but we’re tracking a flash flood emergency in Central Texas, near Kerrville, that is unfolding just a year after catastrophic flooding in similar areas. Locally, clouds will give way to sunshine in the coming days, bringing Houston some of its hottest weather of the year.

Guadalupe River flooding

Things have quieted down in Houston over the last 24 hours, and although we are likely to see some scattered showers over the next couple of days, the region’s flood risk has ended. The story is not the same in Central Texas, where a significant flooding event is unfolding.

At 5:30 am CT this morning the National Weather Service office there issued a “flash flood emergency” for a stretch along the Guadalupe River, to the north of San Antonio. The emergency area runs from the town of Center Point through Bergheim. A gauge at Center Point has risen 32 feet during just the last four hours. According to forecasters, the river is expected to reach a crest similar to the July 4, 2025 catastrophic river flood in that region. Additionally, for Uvalde County, catastrophic flooding is likely along the Frio, Leona, Sabinal, and Nueces rivers.

A flash flood emergency is the weather service’s highest level of flood alert, and they are rarely issued. Such alerts are triggered by rapidly rising water that poses an imminent threat to people.

Thursday

Closer to Houston this morning we are seeing some additional showers to our southwest, near Victoria and El Campo. Generally, I don’t expect these to move into the Houston region, and for the metro area we should only see isolated to scattered showers and thunderstorms today. Your overall chance of seeing rain is probably about 20 percent. Our skies will likely remain partly to mostly cloudy, however, and this should help limit high temperatures in the lower 90s. Winds will be light, from the southeast. Low temperatures tonight will only briefly drop into the upper 70s.

Friday

We’ll have another slight chance of showers and thunderstorms on Friday, but the trend will be toward clearing skies. Accordingly I expect high temperatures to reach the low- to mid-90s across Houston. Low though it may be, this is probably our final chance for rain for a week.

Saturday and Sunday

Summer proper returns to Houston this weekend, with mostly sunny skies and highs in the mid- to upper-90s. Need I say more? Prepare yourselves accordingly.

Next week

We are going to see our hottest weather of the year, to date, next week. Highs for several days will push into the upper 90s, and some inland areas may touch 100 degrees for the first time. I expect mostly sunny skies. If there’s a silver lining it’s that dewpoints will not be quite as high as they can get during the summertime in Houston, so our nighttime temperatures may cool into the mid-70s rather than just falling to 80 degrees. It’s not much, I know. Rain chances remain near zero until at least Thursday or Friday of next week.

In brief: Rain chances continue today, although coverage should be slightly less than Tuesday, with lower overall intensity. High pressure builds later this week to set up an extended period of hot and sunny weather.

The Woodlands gets whacked

All of the greater Houston region recorded rainfall on Tuesday, but as is often the case totals varied widely. Some locations southwest of the city picked up only a quarter of an inch, with most of the area picking up between 0.5 and 2 inches. However the exception to this came north of the city, in Montgomery County.

Over the last two days areas from The Woodlands north to Lake Conroe have picked up 5 to 7 inches of rainfall. A check of waterways in the area show that most streams, creeks, and bayous are elevated but generally within their banks. After a quiet night, water elevations are slowly falling. High water remains on a handful of roadways this morning.

As we’ll discuss below, the focus for showers and thunderstorms should shift further south today. So although some rains are possible in areas hardest hit in Montgomery County over the last couple of days, I don’t believe conditions will be problematic for these locations. However, out of an abundance of caution I am going to hold Stage 1 flood conditions in place through this afternoon.

Also, although flooding issues have not been particularly acute for most of the greater Houston region, the story is different in parts of Central and West Texas. We have more information on that situation on The Eyewall.

Wednesday

Conditions are not as favorable for widespread showers and thunderstorms today in Houston as they were on Tuesday, but plenty of moisture remains in the atmosphere. For this reason much of the area is likely to see showers and thunderstorms today, although overall intensity should be lower. Rain chances are probably 50 percent for areas north of Interstate 10, and a bit higher for locations closer to the coast.

Most locations will likely pick up less than 1 inch of rain, but there could be some higher bullseyes south (and particularly further southwest, near El Campo and Matagorda Bay). These rains should end by late afternoon or early evening, leading to quieter conditions. Skies will be mostly cloudy otherwise, with highs generally in the mid-80s.

Thursday and Friday

High pressure will begin to build from the east, and this will start to shut down daily rain chances. Still, we probably will see about a 30 percent chance of showers or thunderstorms each day. With a mix of sunshine and clouds, high temperatures on both days will likely be in the vicinity of 90 degrees, or possibly lower 90s if we get more sunshine during the afternoon hours. Humidity will be sky high, of course, and nights only cooling into the upper 70s briefly.

Saturday and Sunday

We continue to expect mostly sunny and hot weather this weekend. For most locations highs will likely get into the mid-90s, although some inland locations could approach the upper 90s. It will be a classic beach and pool weekend in our region of Texas.

Next week

This hot and sunny pattern will persist through the first half of next week. There is some indication that we could possibly see the return of a few, sea breeze-driven showers by the second half of the work week. But mostly I expect we’re going to continue to see sunny skies and highs in the 90s. In other words, get any rains you need now.