Skies are—drum roll, please—clear this morning! High pressure moving into the region has pushed cloud cover out of Houston, and so we should have several sunny days. In fact, aside from some clouds on Sunday and Monday, most of the next week should bring lots of sunshine to the region as well as mostly dry air.

Friday

It’s quite cold to start today, so bring a jacket as you head out the door. After breezy overnight conditions, winds should subside this morning. All of the cool air moving in with the overnight winds will help to limit high temperatures to the mid-50s today, despite the ample sunshine. The combination of dying winds and clear skies should set up for ideal cooling tonight, with a light freeze possible in Montgomery County and areas to the northeast of Houston.

Saturday

Sunshine should persist through at least Saturday morning, although I expect to see at least some high clouds move in during the afternoon hours. This should still be a pretty darn nice day, with highs of about 60 degrees, and light winds. As high pressure exits to the east, winds will pick up from offshore later Saturday, probably during the evening hours. Pretty quickly this will help to spin up at least partly cloudy skies, and moderate overnight lows to about 50 degrees in the city of Houston.

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Houston’s last stretch of clear skies came all the way back on Valentine’s Day, during the evening hours. We’ve now got to slog through one more gray, wet, and windy day before we get back to sunny weather for a couple of days. Clear nighttime skies will also allow for cooler temperatures, with the northern half of the metro area flirting with a freeze.

Thursday

A cold front is pushing through the metro area this morning, bringing widespread, mostly light rain with it. Accumulations will total one to two tenths of an inch. These showers should slowly dissipate throughout the day, with northwestern areas drying out first, and the coast later this afternoon. In the meantime, we’re going to see a chilly day, with a distinct lack of sunshine helping to hold high temperatures at about 50 degrees. Winds blowing up to 20mph out of the north will not help matters any, either. As skies clear tonight, lows will drop to around 40 in the city of Houston, with cooler temperatures north, and a bit warmer weather near the coast.

Friday

After a chilly, breezy start on Friday morning, winds should begin to die down. But with colder air across the region, highs likely will top out in the mid-50s despite the sunny skies. Continuing clear skies and light winds Friday night should allow for ideal cooling and the coldest night of the week for most of the Houston region (see map).

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As expected, we ran for 80 degrees yesterday but came up just short, hitting 79° at Bush and Hobby. Today, many of us will probably not even get to 60°.

Today

It’s a much colder start to the day today for sure.

Temperatures across most of the area are running about 15 degrees colder than yesterday at this time. At the coast, it’s a bit less than that. Our current temperatures will not move a bunch either. Look for high temperatures to perhaps end up only 2 to 4 degrees warmer than where they’re at this morning. Basically, expect 50s all day today inland, near 60 at the coast.

How about rain? Well, if you live in Houston or Harris County and points south and were hoping for rain by now, you’re probably getting a little frustrated. Like we told you yesterday, the bulk of the rain was expected to stay north of Houston, and it did, way north. We’re starting today similarly.

The steadiest rain this morning is way up north between Huntsville and Corsicana. In the Greater Houston area? Light rain, drizzle, mist, and nothing more than a couple passing showers. This should be the case for the majority of the day today, with perhaps that steadier rain nudging south late toward Huntsville or Conroe.

Tonight

Rain will continue slowly dropping southward late tonight, but the whole system will begin to also lose steam. The current thinking is that most areas north of I-10 will see at least some rain, with the heaviest amounts being, again, way north toward College Station, Huntsville, or Lake Livingston, possibly even north of there. The whole mess drops, somewhat disjointed into the rest of the area overnight. We could see some heavier showers or thunder along the coast late tonight.

Temperatures will drop to the low- or mid-50s south and upper-40s north by Thursday morning.

Thursday

The entire system will basically fall apart over us, meaning rain chances will gradually trend downward through the day, with rain mostly ending by afternoon. Clouds should linger, and much like Wednesday, temperatures will probably end the day near where they begin the day. Look for temperatures in the upper-40s or low-50s most of Thursday.

As noted yesterday, the wind is expected to whip up on Thursday too. An offshore breeze of about 15 to 25 mph will build during the morning or early afternoon inland, with 20 to 30 mph winds and higher gusts over the bays and along the coast.

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Houston officially topped off at 81° yesterday, our warmest February day since way back on February 6th, when we hit 82°. More importantly, we had some sunshine yesterday, which was a pleasant surprise. We won’t be seeing much more sun until Friday.

Today

Today is starting off cloudy inland and foggy along the coast. We probably won’t see much change in that situation through the day today.

In terms of rain chances today, those will be highest north of about The Woodlands, so from Navasota over to Conroe up through Huntsville and over toward Lake Livingston; basically along or north of Highway 105. Some of the rain could be heavy at times later this afternoon up that way, and thunder will be possible too. Closer to Houston or the coast, a few showers will be possible through this afternoon but they will probably not amount to much.

Oh, and it’s going to be a warm one again today. We should make another run toward 80 degrees this afternoon, but with more clouds than yesterday, we will probably end up a little short.

Tonight

The cold front will be located somewhere north and west of Houston early this evening, probably from about Lake Livingston through Conroe through about Sealy. Through the evening, the cold front will progress into and beyond Houston to about the coast by midnight or so. Look for scattered showers and a chance of thunderstorms tonight.

Rain totals will be highest today and tonight to the north of Houston. It is possible that some folks from I-10 southward may not even see a drop of rain. I would expect a range of 0.10 to 0.25 inches of rain on average along and south of I-10 through Wednesday morning, increasing to 1 to 2 inches or so north of Conroe. A couple spots up from Conroe or Huntsville over to Lake Livingston could see as much as 3 inches or so if we see slower moving, better organized thunderstorms later today and this evening.

Temperatures aren’t going to plummet behind this front, but they will drop about 10 degrees in its wake, from the 60s into the 50s this evening. By daybreak Wednesday, we should be in the low-50s or upper 40s from Houston north and mid- to upper-50s south.

Wednesday

Despite the front being offshore, Wednesday will be a cloudy day. Showers or light rain will be ongoing in parts of the area. The most sustained rainfall on Wednesday should again be along or north of Highway 105, so we’re talking Aggieland through Conroe. We could see upwards of another inch or so in those parts. Rain may fall steadier than today a bit farther south tomorrow, closer to Tomball or The Woodlands. But in the Houston area and points south, expect only occasional light rain, drizzle, or showers.

Temperatures are not really going anywhere tomorrow. We will probably finish the day within a couple degrees of where we start the day. So, dress for generally middle 50s, perhaps a bit milder south or colder north.

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