Eric Berger

Good morning. Houston will enjoy a brief return of dry air for the next couple of days before humidity settles in for the rest of the week. Overall, we’re heading into a quiet pattern, with no issues to speak of. Even tree pollen has finally started to settle down, after a long season.

Monday

A modest cool front has pushed through the area overnight, and the influx of drier air will lead to clearing skies this afternoon, with high temperatures likely slotting into the low 80s. Winds will be out of the north at 10 to 15 mph, with slightly higher gusts. We’re going to get one cool night with this front, and it will be Monday night, with temperatures dropping into the 50s for inland areas, with clear skies, and low 60s closer to the coast. This won’t be “cold” by any means, but such nights will be rarer and rarer as we get into late spring.

Tuesday

This will be a nice day. Look for highs to only reach the mid- to upper-70s. However, as winds turn easterly during the day time, at about 15 mph, we can expect to see the formation of some clouds and rising moisture levels. Lows Tuesday night will be back into the upper 60s already.

Wednesday, Thursday, Friday

The rest of the week should see partly sunny and warm days, with highs in the 80s and fairly strong southerly winds each day—perhaps about 15 mph with higher gusts. These will be humid days, with warm nights as temperatures only fall to around 70 degrees. Rain chances are near zero, however.

Saturday, Sunday and beyond

Right now the weekend looks to bring more of the same, with partly to mostly sunny skies, and highs in the mid- to upper-80s. Rain chances remain low, as well. At some point another modest cool front will probably make it to Houston, but that appears unlikely to happen before next Monday or Tuesday.

Good morning. If you’re looking for a guaranteed day of drier air in Houston, today’s the day. After this humidity will return with a vengeance, and our prospects for a front early next week are hopeful but uncertain.

Thursday

In the wake of an overnight front, drier air is moving in to the region today. After morning lows in the upper 50s to lower 60s, we’ll see high temperatures climb this afternoon to the low 80s. Winds, generally will be from the east at 10 to 15 mph. The cold front, however, lies just offshore and will start to return to the area this evening as a warm front. As a result we’ll start to see some increasing clouds tonight, with lows generally in the low- to mid-60s.

Friday

As moisture levels increase, we should see mostly cloudy skies on Friday. This could prompt some scattered, light showers by the late morning, or afternoon hours. Highs should top out at about 80 degrees given the cloud cover, with winds out of the south at 5 to 10 mph. Lows Friday night probably won’t drop below 70 degrees.

Saturday

This will be a warm and humid day, with highs in the upper 80s and partly to mostly cloudy skies. It won’t quite feel like summer, but it will offer a preview of what’s coming. We can’t entirely rule out a few stray showers, but chances are likely in the 10 to 20 percent range.

Sunday

Easter Sunday will be a lot like Saturday. Highs will again push into the mid- to upper-80s with predominantly cloudy skies, but some sunshine should break through. The big question regarding Sunday and Sunday night concerns the next cold front. There still is not great agreement on whether it pushes all the way through Houston, and when. As a result, while its possible we could see some light rain on Sunday evening and overnight, it’s a big question mark.

Next week

Our weather for next week could bring highs in the 70s for a couple of days, with lows in the 50s, and drier air. Or we might stay in the 80s with only slightly drier air. I’d love to be able to offer you some clarity, but I don’t have any.

Good morning. A weak cold front is on schedule to move in late this afternoon and evening, possibly bringing some brief showers and thunderstorms. The dry air associated with this front will be long gone before the weekend, however.

Wednesday

Today will be a warm and humid affair for Houston, with southwesterly winds gusting up to 25 or possibly 30 mph. Highs will reach the mid-80s for most of the area, but may rise a little higher than this for western parts of the region. A cold front is on the way, however, and it will push into the area late this afternoon and this evening. It looks like a thin line of showers and possibly a few thunderstorms may accompany the front, perhaps reaching downtown around 6 to 8 pm, and the coast an hour or two later. Low temperatures tonight will drop to around 60 degrees.

Thursday

This will be a pleasant, sunny day with high temperatures around 80 degrees. Winds will come from the northeast, perhaps gusting to 15 or 20 mph at times. As winds shift to come from the east overnight, lows Thursday night will be a few degrees warmer than Wednesday night.

Friday

The aforementioned cold front, which stalled over the northern Gulf of Mexico on Thursday, will lift back north across the region on Friday as a warm front. Effectively that means we’ll see a rapid rise of humidity, and increasing clouds, with highs likely somewhere in the low 80s. Winds will be light, out of the southeast. There’s a slight chance of rain as atmospheric moisture levels increase.

Saturday

The first half of the weekend will be partly sunny and quite warm, with highs likely in the mid- to upper-80s for most. Winds will be from the south, and there probably is about a 10 percent chance of a brief shower.

Sunday

Easter Sunday will also be warm, with much of the area likely seeing highs in the upper 80s to go along with partly sunny skies. Humidity levels will, of course, be soaring as well. Easter will be a heater, therefore. Winds will be out of the south, probably at 5 to 15 mph. Rain chances, again, are probably in the range of 10 percent.

Next week

We still lack clarity on the timing and strength of next week’s cold front. It certainly looks a lot less impressive than it did a few days ago, with much of the cold air now getting shunted off to the east, rather than diving due south into Texas. So Monday and Tuesday of next week should start to see some cooler and somewhat drier weather, but how cool, and how dry? I have zero confidence in predicting that right now.

Good morning. We’re watching the possibility of storms, which may or may not break through a capping inversion today and Wednesday. What we’re certain of is that it will continue to be warm and muggy, with highs in the 80s, before a splash of dry air arrives on Wednesday night. Easter weekend still looks warm and mostly sunny, for the most part.

Tuesday

Lows this morning have only fallen into the low 70s for much of the region, and we’ll continue to see a warm southerly flow today with highs in the low 80s and cloudy skies. Winds may gust from the south as high as 20 to 25 mph. There will be battle in the atmosphere between a handful of disturbances pushing through, and whether the moist air at the surface can rise high enough to combine with these systems to produce storm activity. The limiting factor is a layer of warmer air, aloft, that may prevent the moist surface air from lifting too high to feed thunderstorm development.

The most likely time period for the capping inversion to break will be this afternoon and early evening, in which case we might see briefly heavy rainfall, damaging winds, or hail. However the most likely scenario for most of us is probably gray skies, with light rain. Accumulations for most will probably range from 0 to 0.25 inch of rain. So storms will probably be the exception, rather than the norm. Lows tonight will only drop into the low 70s again.

Wednesday

The approach and passage of a weak front on Wednesday and Wednesday night will allow for another chance of rain, but again a capping inversion may inhibit most of this activity. As I don’t think the front will reach our area until later Wednesday, I expect highs in the 80s for Houston, with at times gusty southerly winds. Lows on Wednesday night should drop into the low 60s as moderately drier air moves into the region, likely penetrating all the way to the coast.

Thursday

This should be a mostly sunny day, with somewhat drier air leading to highs in the low 80s, and overnight lows probably dropping into the 60s again. So, pretty nice.

Friday

The onshore flow resumes pretty quickly, so we can expect a mix of sunshine and clouds on Friday, with highs in the 80s, and increasing humidity levels.

Saturday and Sunday

The weekend forecast calls for a mix of clouds and sunshine. While we can’t rule out some scattered showers, overall chances are low and I’m reasonably confident things will stay dry. Temperatures will depend on the extent of cloud cover over our region, but I think we’ll probably get into the mid- or even upper-80s. So Easter Sunday could end up feeling fairly sultry—we’re thinking this could be a Stage 3 or even Stage 4 type event for melting chocolate.

Next week

A cold front is still in the cards for next Monday or Tuesday, but the strength of it, and how much of the cold air that will funnel into the United States drops all the way down to the Texas Gulf coast, remains in question. Lows in the 50s remain the most likely possibility, but we shall see.