After roasting like a turkey today, a front rolls in early on Thanksgiving to bring the colder air we all relish

In brief: Today’s post takes a detailed look at what to expect from the strong cold front arriving on Thanksgiving morning, windy conditions for Black Friday shoppers, and a pleasant winter-like weekend. There’s also an outlook for the return of the rivalry between the Longhorns and Aggies on Saturday night.

For those keeping score at home, I managed to stuff four puns into the headline of this post. Ok, I’ll stop now, I promise. That’s the last pun. Anyway, we at Space City Weather hope you have a great Thanksgiving. I’d be remiss if I did not remind you that if you’re thankful for the work we do, there’s still a few more days to contribute to our annual fundraiser. You can find out more information here about ways to support the site for next year. We’ll be back here on Friday morning unless something major changes with the forecast.

Wednesday

As a southerly flow ramps up, high temperatures today will near, or possibly match records for Nov. 27 in Houston. The official high temperature is 84 degrees, set in 1989. After some clouds this morning, skies will be mostly sunny with southwesterly winds gusting up to 25 mph. Tonight will be warm and muggy ahead of a cool front that will push through Houston during the pre-dawn hours on Thursday.

Thursday

The front should be approaching our area by around midnight, and reach the coast no later than sunrise. It’s possible there may be a few spotty showers with the passage of the front, but overall you’re probably not going to see any rain. By the morning hours of Thanksgiving we’ll see northerly winds at about 15 mph, with gusts up to 25 mph or higher and drier air blows into the area. After the front’s passage, daytime temperatures will top out in the upper 50s to lower 60s for the area. Skies will be mostly cloudy on the Thanksgiving holiday, with some possible clearing during the afternoon or evening hours.

Lows on Thursday night will generally drop into the 40s in Houston, but some far inland areas, including College Station and northern parts of Montgomery County, should get into the 30s. Note that with wind gusts of 20 mph possibly on Friday morning, it will feel colder than this outside, so that is something to keep in mind if you’re going to be out shopping late Thursday night, or early Friday.

Friday

This will be a chilly day, with high temperatures in the upper 50s to about 60 degrees, despite mostly sunny skies. Winds will be from the north at 10 to 15 mph. Expect another chilly night, with lows dropping into the 30s for far inland areas, and 40s in metro Houston. The coast will be a bit warmer.

Saturday and Sunday

The weekend will be the first winter-like weekend of the season, with highs generally in the low- to mid-60s, mostly sunny days, and nights in the 40s. Winds will be fairly light.

Next week

Next week will see a gradual warmup, with highs in the upper 60s to 70s, and overnight temperatures rebounding to about 60 degrees by the middle of the week. Cloud cover will increase, and we’ll start to see daily rain chances by Monday or especially Tuesday from a coastal low pressure system. This does not look to be potent rainmaker, but it may be persistent in that we see ongoing periods of light to moderate rain for a few days.

The game

Many of you will undoubtedly be interested in the outcome of a certain football game on Saturday night, in College Station, Texas. For late November, the weather will be fine. Expect gametime temperatures for the visiting Texas Longhorns and home Texas A&M Aggies to be in the 50s, with partly cloudy skies. By the end of the game the mercury may drop into the upper 40s. The good news is that there will be no wind to affect the outcome of the game. It’s fun to have the rivalry back!