This weekend a reader reminded me of something we published two years ago—an answer to the question of when would be the best time to plan an outdoor wedding in Houston in anticipation of fair weather. After a bit of research we concluded that, “the best time for outdoor weddings in Houston is the last two weeks of March, during the afternoon or evening hours.” Melanie said she had just had a wonderful wedding, and I must admit these two weekends during the last half of March have been pretty pleasant. Forecasts don’t always work out, but it’s nice when they do. Congratulations Melanie!
Monday
We’ll continue to see warm weather to start the week as a southerly flow persists. Winds today will be out of the south at 10 to 15 mph, with higher gusts. As this happens moisture levels will increase in the atmosphere, and we’ll start to see some clouds in the sky. However, I think enough sunshine will break through to allow high temperatures to reach the low- to mid-80s. Winds will slacken a bit tonight as lows drop into the 60s.
Tuesday
This will be even a windier day as the southerly flow deepens. Gusts out of the south may reach 30 mph or even higher, and this will bring more clouds and warmer air into the region. Despite partly to mostly cloudy skies I think highs will again push into the low- to mid-80s. Lows on Tuesday night may drop below 70 for some coastal areas, with sticky dewpoints, and will only be slightly cooler for inland areas.
Wednesday
A cold front will move through the region on Wednesday morning. The timing is still uncertain, but for now I’d peg its passage during the pre-dawn hours for College Station, mid-morning in Houston, and off the coast by or before noon. It looks like a line of storms may form with this front, bringing some briefly heavy thunderstorms and straight-line winds. The overall threat of severe weather looks fairly low, however. Highs Wednesday will likely get into the 80s after the front with sunny skies, but the drier air moving in will allow to drop into the 50s overnight.
Thursday
This should be a super nice day, with highs in the 70s, dry air, and lots of sunshine. Winds look fairly light, as well.
Friday
The onshore flow resumes on Friday, so we’ll probably see some clouds form as highs reach the upper 70s to 80 degrees.
Saturday and Sunday
Some showers are possibly heading into the weekend, as a modest front moves through. At this point it looks like things will clear out by Saturday morning-ish, allowing for mostly sunny weather from thereafter through the weekend. Highs should be around 80 degrees, give or take, with lows in the upper 50s. Winter is long gone, my friends.
Winter is long gone? What winter? We didn’t have a winter this year. Sadly when that happens we usually have a scorcher summer. Not looking forward to it.
February was 5.8 degrees below average; January was 1.0 below average. This March is running 3.0 below average as well so far. December was way above, but at least it got cool in Jan/Feb. Pretty normal for Houston “winter” aside from December.
This is all per NWS office at IAH.
go to weather dot gov slash HGX slash climate_iah
Right, it felt like December was quite warm, January was just the usual, but February was cold, and seemed longer than the shortest month.
Winter may be long gone, but when will the (oak especially!) pollen be gone?
The late winter and early spring is some of the best weather or the year, when I can turn off the heat and don’t need AC yet, so the utility bills are low. During April, we will have the peak of the wildflower season, so hopefully the weather will be favorable to the blooms. Now, last night was quite breezy. It certainly seems windier than normal these past few months.
I’m planning to go to Melissa, TX, north of Dallas, the weekend of the 8th April. I know that’s far out but is there any weather patterns headed out way that would mean bad weather? Thank you. P.S. Love your forecasting. My husband was a meteorologist in the Aair Force and he always beat the TV forecasts with his.