Eric Berger

Today is a special day. At 6:15am CT local time in Houston, 99 percent of the world’s population is illuminated by the sun. Of these 99 percent, the vast majority are in direct sunlight, while the remainder are in some form of twilight. Only parts of Australia, New Zealand, and Papua New Guinea are in full darkness at this time. As to why this occurs a couple of weeks after the summer solstice, and not on the summer solstice, that has to due with the distribution of the world’s population, and the location of Earth’s landmasses. TimeAndDate has more detail on all of this in a great fact-checking post.

Speaking of that sun, we’ll see plenty of it during the days ahead. This weekend looks extremely hot before conditions start to moderate a little bit more each day next week. It will be nice to have daily rain chances again.

Friday

Areas inside Loop 610 won the rainfall lottery on Thursday, but the chance of hitting an isolated rain shower today is less than on Thursday. Instead, we can simply expect mostly sunny weather, with highs in the upper 90s to 100 degrees in Houston, and warmer conditions still for far inland areas such as College Station. Winds will be light, out of the southwest at 5 to 10 mph. Overnight lows probably won’t drop below 80 degrees.

Saturday

Look for very hot weather, with highs at or above 100 degrees for much of the area with sunny skies. Please take precautions due to the heat during the middle of the day.

Sunday

This will be another hot and mostly sunny day, probably the hottest of the period. However, there is a slight chance, perhaps 10 to 20 percent, of an afternoon shower or thunderstorm kicking up along with the sea breeze. I mean, probably not. But maybe.

Next week

The details for next week’s weather remain a bit fuzzy, but the overall trend should be one toward more typical weather for mid-July in Houston. That means that as we get toward the middle of the week highs likely will slot somewhere in the mid-90s, with a decent 30 or 40 percent chance of rain each day. After the last few days, that doesn’t exactly sound terrible, does it? We’ll be back on Monday with some more clarity on those details. Until then, please take the heat seriously this weekend.

Good morning. You’ll notice that today headline is yet another acrostic, in which the first letter of each word spells out Houston. Because there is not much else to challenge a forecaster when high pressure dominates our weather, I’m going to challenge my creativity with words and acrostics until the heat breaks and we see some more widespread showers. And when will that happen? There is a chance of some small relief by the middle of next week.

On another note, if you’re going to be in the bay area this weekend, and particularly if you live close by Johnson Space Center, please note that they’re conducting a pressure test of a lunar habitat on Saturday. Effectively this means that engineers are going to pump up the pressure in a habitat to see how high it can go until it bursts. The burst test will begin at 8 am, with the culminating boom likely to come between 11 am and noon. Don’t freak out if you hear a loud noise!

Thursday

Conditions today will be similar to Wednesday in that high temperatures will generally reach the mid- to upper-90s beneath mostly sunny skies. Also like on Wednesday, there is the potential for some isolated to scattered thunderstorms. While virtually all of us saw no rain yesterday, a thunderstorm just east of downtown Houston popped out 1 to 2 inches of rain across a couple of miles near Galena Park. There may be a couple of those rainy areas today, as well. Otherwise, winds will be light, out of the south.

Friday and Saturday

Hot and sunny, with highs near 100 degrees, if not reaching triple digits. Rain chances fall to 10 percent or less. Winds will generally be light.

Sunday and Monday

Temperatures remain about the same, but rain chances may increase slightly to 10 to 20 percent during the afternoon. Skies remain mostly sunny.

Tuesday and beyond

It looks as if the high pressure ridge may start to back off by the early part of next week, and this could allow for temperatures to start to drop into the mid-90s. This may also introduce better daily rain chances along the sea breeze. There are no promises here, but only potential. We’ll see.

Good morning. Houston’s hotter than normal weather for July will continue for the foreseeable future, as high pressure continues to set the agenda through the weekend and into next week. It looks as though the heat will peak this weekend, with triple-digit conditions for much of the area, before a slight moderation in temperatures next week. As for when we might see widespread rainfall, that is probably at least a week or 10 days off.

Wednesday

Skies will be mostly sunny today, with highs generally in the mid- to upper-90s for central parts of the Houston area, with warmer conditions possible inland, and slightly cooler weather along the coast. Winds will be out of the south at 5 to 10 mph. As an atmospheric disturbance approaches, we may see a few scattered to isolated showers this afternoon, but overall chances are probably about 20 percent for the coast, and 10 percent inland. So, not much. Lows tonight will probably not fall below 80 degrees.

Thursday

A day quite similar to Wednesday.

Friday, Saturday, and Sunday

The heat continues to build into the weekend, with highs of about 100 degrees likely for much of the metro area, to go along with sunny skies. Rain chances are less than 10 percent—unless you count the perspiration falling as you walk outside.

Next week

It looks like the high pressure system will retreat a bit to the northwest next week, which should bring highs down a couple of degrees. It won’t be much to start. But I could see the development of more clouds later next week, and that’s when rain chances may start to improve a little bit.

Good morning. I hope everyone had a safe, healthy, and happy Fourth of July. If you liked the calm and hot conditions on Monday, you’re in luck, because high pressure is more or less here to stay, and that’s the kind of weather we’re going to see for awhile. If you did not like the weather, well, I’m sorry to say the pattern is unlikely to change for at least a week or two.

Tuesday

Skies will again be mostly sunny today, with high temperatures of around 90 degrees right along the coast, to mid-90s in parts of Houston, to around 100 degrees for far inland areas. Winds will also be light, out of the south at 5 to 10 mph, for much of the day. With a persistent onshore flow there will not be much relief overnight, with lows unlikely to drop below 80 degrees for much of the metro area.

Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday

Each of these days will generally bring temperatures in the mid- to upper-90s, but the difference is the ridge should back off just slightly. This will allow for a slight chance of showers each afternoon, perhaps on the order of 10 to 20 percent. These will occur as the sea breeze migrates inland, and you should consider yourself lucky if you win the rain lottery each of these days. Nights remain warm and muggy.

Saturday and Sunday

If you’re making plans for the weekend, you can reliably count on hot and sunny conditions, with highs near 100 degrees in the metro area. Prepare to sweat.

Next week

Hey Eric, when is this pattern going to change? Well, as we get deeper into July, the models suggest the next reasonable chance for widespread rain probably won’t come until the weekend after next, in the July 15 to 17 range. Because that is so far out to forecast, overall confidence in this kind of a pattern change is fairly low.

Tropics

They’re fairly quiet, and we’ll have an update from Matt a little later this morning.