February ended on fire. According to the National Weather Service, the low temperature on Tuesday morning was 73 degrees—setting a record high minimum temperature for any day in February, in any year. This beat the old record by 2 degrees, would break or tie a record for every day in the city from January 1 through April 11, and matches the normal low for June 10. In summary, Houston’s warmest February on record ended with ridiculous weather, the same way we began it.
Today
Low temperatures this morning are about the same as Tuesday, but fortunately a cool front arrives today, returning the region to more sensible weather for this time of year. The front should move through the region by around noon, and a capping inversion should prevent all but a few scattered showers from developing as it blows through. Winds could gust up to 20 or 25 miles out of the north this afternoon and early evening as drier air moves in. While afternoon temperatures should still reach about 80 degrees, conditions will cool off fairly quickly as the Sun sinks toward the horizon.
Thursday and Friday
As we’ve been saying for awhile, the end of the work week should provide some splendid, early spring-like weather, with highs in the upper 60s and low temperatures around 50 degrees, warmer along the coast and cooler inland. The only concern I have is for winds, which will be out of the north on Thursday (perhaps gusting to 15mph) and then out of the east and then southeast on Friday, perhaps gusting a little higher.
Saturday and Sunday
I’m starting to have some confidence that at least Saturday morning should provide decent weather for outdoor activities. I expect a high temperature of about 70 degrees under cloudy skies, as moisture levels rise. The tricky question remains the timing of any rainfall, which could begin as early as Saturday afternoon, or not start until Sunday morning. In any case, I think most of the region is probably looking at picking up about 1 inch of rain this weekend. Highs on Sunday should rise into the mid-70s.
Early next week
As has been usual for the region this winter, Houston will fall into a “warm” pattern for most of the next work week, as it looks like high temperatures will be between 75 and 80 degrees, and lows in the 60s. So if you enjoy cooler weather, this Thursday and Friday are for you.
Posted at 6:55am CT on Wednesday by Eric
Good morning. Do you think the rain will be scattered on Sunday, or is it too soon to say? I have an outdoor event in the morning and hoping the rain stays away until the afternoon!
Probably scattered in the morning, if it rains at all. Low-to-medium confidence in the forecast, however.
Thank you! Hopefully this is still the case after today’s rain 🙂
That groundhog’s full of it!
How can I be out of town all summer?
Is this summer going to be as bad as 1980 (I wasn’t living here then, but kept hearing numbers like 105F)? Or will it simply start early with mid 90s in early May (and continuing into late October)?
I don’t want to find out….
Thanks Eric! As wild as the Feb numbers are for Houston, they seem to be even crazier for Galveston. I assume this is because of warmer than average water temps, but is there any explanation for this, other than the standard, “global warming”?
I am also wondering if the low temperatures in Galveston last month are as truly off-the-charts as they seem, or has this happened before?
http://www.weather.gov/images/hgx/climate/KGLS201702plot.png
It happened once, in 1889-90.
Oh, just a run of the mill 100 year event, then! 🙂
Observations from an armchair meteorologist. We’re in March now, so all these observations are regarding February:
12 80+ days, almost half of the month
Temperature never dropped below 40°F, and the closest I remember was February 2005 where there was one morning in the upper 30’s. March of that year (2005) failed to drop below 40°F as well, which has happened on a few occasions since I’ve been here but isn’t very common for March.
There were NO days in February 2017 where the temperature failed to reach at least 60°F.
The “lowest high” for the month was 62°F.
And, as you all mentioned previously, only one day of below normal temps, and that mainly due a “chilled” 40°F start to that day.