We topped off (officially) at 97° on Thursday, tying yesterday with June 9th for the hottest day of 2020 so far. Perhaps we could make a run today for….
Maybe. If not, there is a valid chance we could do it Saturday or Sunday as well. Either way, expect a hot holiday weekend, and be sure to take it easy if you’re outdoors.
Today
Look for partly to mostly sunny conditions today. Saharan dust will again provide some haze. Air quality on Thursday did get to the “unhealthy for sensitive groups” level, and it may do so again today, so if you’ve been irritated by the recent dust events or have any respiratory ailments, today may bother you once again. High temperatures should aim for the mid- to upper-90s once more with plenty of humidity. Heat index values topped off around 105° yesterday. We should see similar to perhaps slightly lower peak heat index values today.
Rain chances aren’t zero, but they’re low for most of the area most of the day. We will watch some storms in Louisiana later this afternoon that will ride west into Texas this evening. If they can survive the trip, you may see a downpour or have a brief gusty thunderstorm east of I-45 after about 4 or 5 P.M. or so before the storms dissipate. This is a fairly low possibility.
Weekend
For the holiday weekend it will be hot. Both Saturday and Sunday should again see highs in the mid- to upper-90s and lows in the 70s. Humidity is going to creep upward this weekend, so look for peak heat index values around 105°, give or take a couple degrees on both days. Saharan dust may linger a bit, but it will slowly dissipate this weekend.
How about rain? Well, a trough and upper low look to setup shop over Mississippi and Alabama this weekend. Storms on the western periphery of that setup could graze eastern areas. This would be primarily a story for Liberty & Chambers Counties, if not mainly toward Beaumont. So a few heavy downpours are possible east of Houston. Areas to the north (Walker, Montgomery, and San Jacinto Counties) may also get grazed by some storms at times as well this weekend, particularly Sunday morning. For Houston and points south and west, your best shot at storms may be Sunday, and as it stands this morning, that’s a low probability. Either way, no significant issues are expected this weekend.
Next week
Look for scattered showers and thunderstorms on Monday and especially Tuesday. Not everyone will see rain, but it will be our area’s best shot at storms since last week, so hopefully we can participate. By Wednesday, high pressure begins to reload over Texas, building toward the weekend. We will likely be back to hot and mostly dry by the end of next week, with daytime highs back in the 95 to 97 degree range, if not hotter.
Enjoy the holiday weekend, and please stay safe.
Wish would do an “expo” on what TV weather men think saying when report the Houston temperature felt like “105?” today.
I get mad and think “no way! It feels just like 95 in Houston!
Is there sensible reason we are told about how some mythical place “feels”?
95 in a dry climate feels like 95. 95 in Houston humidity feels like 105. Humidity is what makes it feel hotter than it is.
But I do not and never did live in a low humidity place. Have NO idea what that would mean.
Local weather should report to local people. 95 in Houston feels like 95 in Houston. 🙃
It would mean dry skin, chapped lips, and constant nosebleeds.
I mean, you don’t have to go anywhere else to get an idea of temperature. Have you felt the temperature of anything else? Food? Water? I think most people get good at gauging the temperature outside.
It feels much, much better. And you can escape the heat in the shade.
Unless that 95 occurs outside of summer
Because “feels like” roughly equates to the heat index, which is an objective measure for what the body experiences since, you know, science is supposed to be an objective pursuit. “95 in Houston” is subjective and really doesn’t mean much.
Anyone who has spent 50 years in Houston knows what “95 degrees in Houston” means.
Sure thing, and I’m telling you that this measure works for someone who has only been in Houston for 50 minutes. It doesn’t care about longevity.
That’s good for you? Not all of us have lived that long. I don’t know why it bothers you so much if you get both the temperature and “what it feels like” temperature.
Because to this local resident, the real temperature of 95 “feels like” really like 95. Do not like local weather inflated to give impression that Houston is really in the 100’s.
Unless numbers. Just make people think it is hotter.
Can we all flock to Colorado for the summer and complain when it gets to 88°?
/shakes fist at subtropical high/
Models are biased
It’s almost 7pm here in the woodlands area. The wings is picking up, it’s coming down, and lots of gray clouds. I sure didn’t expect this today when I was melting out here just an hour ago!
Wow I got screwed by swipe. That’s supposed to say the wind was picking up and the temp was dropping. It’s clear and the clouds are gone again now at 7:30