After Easter’s odd weather, Houston will enjoy a lovely spring week

Easter Sunday was a rather interesting weather day in Houston that illustrated a couple of different phenomena. The first part of the day was rather humid, with a strong line of storms that passed well to the north of Houston, eventually dragging a front into Houston. Temperatures just before the front passed were in the upper 70s, with dewpoints right behind in the low 70s, making for muggy weather indeed. Then the front pushed through, causing three things to happen.

Winds surged out of the west, gusting well into the 30s for most of the area, and the 40s along the coast. This brought in a rapid influx of much drier air. Dewpoints plunged into the 40s. This drier air, in concert with the sun, helped temperatures spike into the low 90s for much of Houston—both Bush Intercontinental (92 degrees) and Hobby Airport (93 degrees) broke records. And then that same dry air allowed temperatures to fall into the 50s this morning. Now we’ll enjoy several days of splendid spring weather.

Monday

Although winds died down overnight, they will pick up again some today, although gusts are unlikely to rise much above 20 mph. We can otherwise expect sunny conditions on Monday with highs of around 70 degrees. It’s going to be quite nice! Lows Monday night will drop into the upper 40s for areas well inland, while remaining in the upper 50s along the coast.

Tuesday and Wednesday

A second front will push through later on Tuesday, and this should keep our dry air, mostly sunny skies, and cool air in place. Expect highs in the low 70s, and lows in the 50s—cooler inland and warmer near the coast. At this point, Wednesday morning may be the coolest of the week.

Thursday

By Thursday we should see the onshore flow resume, pulling in moisture, and setting the stage for some eventually warming weather. Lows Thursday night will likely be in the 60s, area wide.

Friday

This is the first day of the week when we expect to see mostly cloudy skies, and despite this highs are likely to go back up near 80 degrees. Some slight rain chances return on Friday, but showers are more likely this weekend.

Saturday and Sunday

Our forecast for the weekend is quite uncertain. The first question is the progress a cool front makes on Friday. Will it push all the way through the area late Friday and off the coast? Or will it stall before reaching Houston? Difficult to say. Our next question concerns the movement of an upper-level storm system from the southwest, which has the potential to make for a rainy Saturday afternoon through Sunday. Hard to say. Best guess at this point is highs in the 70s on Saturday, in the 80s on Sunday, with mostly cloudy skies and a healthy chance of rain. We’ll get better details for you as we get later into the week.