Eric Berger

Low temperatures are generally around 60 degrees this morning, and we’re going to be on a continuous warming trend until Friday night, when a fairly strong cold front arrives. The record high temperature for Thursday (84 degrees, 2019) and Friday (83 degrees, 1939) are both definitely in play. The weekend will see much more seasonal weather, with highs dropping back into the 60s, and lows mostly in the 40s.

Wednesday

Patchy fog this morning will burn off, leaving behind partly to mostly cloudy skies near the coast, with a little more sunshine inland. Winds will be light, shifting to come from the southeast, with high temperatures rising into the mid-70s. Temperatures tonight will be a few degrees warmer than Tuesday night, perhaps only dropping into the low- to mid-60s for much of Houston, with even warmer conditions right along the coast.

Thursday

Dewpoints really start to ramp up on Thursday, into the 70s. What this means is that, in addition to temperatures rising into the low to mid-80s on Thursday, it’s going to feel rather sticky outside. Think October, not December. Some slight, scattered showers are possible during the morning hours. Overnight lows on Thursday night probably won’t drop below 70 degrees for most of the region.

Friday

As a low pressure system moves down across the central United States on Friday—this will evenutally move through Houston as a cold front—it will suck warmer air northward into the Texas coast. Effectively this means we’re going to see temperatures in the mid-80s on Friday. Again, some slight scattered showers are possible during the daytime. The front itself looks to arrive after midnight, probably reaching the coast around sunrise on Saturday or shortly before.

Saturday

A thin line of showers should accompany the front, bringing accumulations of perhaps a tenth of an inch of rain or two, into Houston. These showers should be over by sunrise, and we likely will see clearing skies by late morning or early afternoon. Temperatures will fall throughout the day on Saturday, probably into the 50s during the afternoon hours. Winds will be gusty, out of the north, up to 30 mph during the daytime, but these should start to back off during the evening hours. Saturday night will be the coldest of the week, with widespread lows in the 40s.

Sunday

This will be a splendid, mostly sunny winter-like day. Highs will peak in the low 60s, and temperatures on Sunday night a few degrees warmer than Saturday night.

Next week

Houston will see a familiar pattern, with a warming trend next week as temperatures go back into the 70s. Another front is likely toward the end of next week or into the weekend. Rain chances will likely be low, to non-existent, until that next front.

This morning is pleasantly chilly for early December, with temperatures in the 50s across the area. However winds today will gradually become easterly, and this will set us upon a pretty dramatic warming trend later this week, culminating in the mid-80s by Friday. A strong front will arrive late on Friday night or Saturday morning, and reset our thermometers back to more winter-like weather.

Tuesday

Despite the chill in the air, temperatures this morning are still about 10 degrees above normal for this time of year, when we should be in the mid-40s. With skies remaining partly cloudy today, expect highs to top out in the mid-60s, with light winds turning easterly. Lows tonight will drop into the 50s tonight for all but coastal areas, which will be a bit warmer.

Wednesday

Some fog will be possible Wednesday morning as dewpoints match temperatures before sunrise. The day itself should be mild for December, with highs in the mid-70s. With mostly southeasterly winds we’ll start to see humidity levels recovering. Overnight lows Wednesday will drop into the 60s, with only far inland areas potentially dropping into the 50s.

Thursday and Friday

These will be warm and fairly muggy days for December, with highs in the low- to mid-80s and a mix of clouds and sunshine. Some isolated to scattered showers will be possible both days, but I’d peg rain chances at less than 20 percent. Rain chances increase Friday night as a front approaches the region, but for now I think this activity will not pick up until after midnight.

Saturday and Sunday

The weekend should be clear and cold once the front passes. So when will that be? Right now the models show the front arriving in Houston by around sunrise on Saturday morning, if not a bit before. It looks like a few tenths of an inch of rain may accompany the front, but we’re not looking at anything too intense, or too long lasting. This should be a pretty clean frontal passage, with the moisture being swept out in its wake. As a result we probably will see clearing skies by late morning or early afternoon.

By Saturday afternoon temperatures will likely fall to around 60 degrees, and keep going down from there. It will feel chilly, especially with northerly winds gusting to 25 mph or higher. Right now these gusts should begin to die down during the evening hours, which is good because temperatures will be dropping into the 40s by late evening, and to around 40 degrees by Sunday morning. Inland areas outside of Houston’s urban core will likely see lows in the 30s, although temperatures most likely will remain above freezing. Despite ample sunshine, highs on Sunday will peak at about 60 degrees. It will be a fine winter day in Houston. Overnight temperatures will again get down into the low 40s in Houston.

Next week

By Monday a warming trend begins, but I don’t think we’re going back into the 80s. Mostly, next week, we should be in the 70s. So, not winter-like. But not exactly October weather, either.

Good morning. A cold front is moving toward the region, and will reach central Houston by around noon, pushing off the coast later this afternoon. I’m not anticipating anything too explosive, but some showers and thunderstorms are possible with the front’s passage. We will see a brief cooldown through Wednesday before we warm up again for the second half of the week. A cold front on Saturday should bring us a more sustained stretch of cooler weather—finally allowing things to feel like winter again out there.

Also, before jumping into the forecast, several readers asked about a string of bright lights in the sky over Houston on Friday evening, at about 6:10 pm CT. I’m sharing a photo from a reader, Dave, below. The passage across the sky took about 1 minute. This was a “train” of Starlink satellites, which are launched in batches of 48 to 60 by SpaceX. The company now has a growing constellation of about 1,700 satellites to provide internet broadband service. The Starlink megaconstellation in low-Earth orbit is celebrated because it will bring high-speed internet to areas without it, but also criticized because orbit-raising trains such as this one impair the ability of astronomers to study the night sky. There are also concerns about orbital debris due to collisions as SpaceX, OneWeb, Amazon, and others assemble such constellations.

Monday

High atmospheric moisture levels are allowing showers to develop south of Interstate 10 this morning, and more scattered showers and thunderstorms are possible. Rain chances will increase as a cold front passes through the area, likely around 10 am for Conroe and The Woodlands, noon for Houston, and afternoon for coastal areas. A line of showers and thunderstorms will accompany the front as it passes through. Most areas will probably see 0.5 inch of rain or less, but a few areas could pick up 1 inch or more. Rains should end pretty quickly after the frontal passage.

After a decidedly humid weekend, temperatures and dewpoints will fall this afternoon, with northerly winds and much drier air. Lows tonight will probably drop to about 50 degrees in Houston, with cooler conditions inland.

Tuesday

Tuesday’s temperatures will depend upon how quickly the clouds clear, but I expect partly to mostly sunny skies by the afternoon hours, with highs in the mid- to upper-60s. With the return of the onshore flow, Tuesday night will probably be 5 to 10 degrees warmer than Monday night.

Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday

A southerly flow really picks back up during the second half of the week, and this will pop temperatures back up into the low 80s by Thursday and Friday. Nights will be correspondingly warm, perhaps not falling below 70 degrees in parts of Houston. Skies will see a mix of sunshine and clouds, with rain chances probably below 10 percent.

Saturday and Sunday

A stronger cold front should arrive on Saturday, probably before noon, to end our fling with warm December weather. Some showers and thunderstorms may accompany this front as well, but at this point I think we’ll see clearing skies by Saturday afternoon, with chilly air moving in overnight, and lows dropping into the 40s. Sunday may only bring highs near 60 degrees, with mostly sunny skies, before a chilly night again. A slow warming trend likely begins Monday.

Although we’re in the month of December, you wouldn’t know it from the weather. It’s not that we are going to exactly be hot—rather conditions will remain quite mild—but it’s definitely not going to approach cold weather, even “Houston” cold. The bottom line is that if you’re like Goldilocks, and like things not too hot or not too cold, you’re in luck for at least the next week or 10 days.

Thursday

Dense fog is back across parts of Houston this morning, and a National Weather Service advisory remains in effect until 9 am. After the fog dissipates we should be left partly sunny skies and high temperatures near 80 degrees. The calm winds this morning, which are aiding in the development of fog, should become southerly at 5 to 10 mph this afternoon. Overnight low temperatures will be about five degrees warmer tonight, only dropping into the lower 60s in Houston, with inland areas possibly seeing the upper 50s.

Friday

We’ll likely see the development of more fog on Friday morning. This should be a partly to mostly cloudy day afterward as an atmospheric disturbance passes overhead, but overall rain chances will remain fairly low, probably about 10 percent or so as other factors will mitigate against the development of showers. Highs will likely top out in the upper 70s with another night in the low 60s.

Saturday and Sunday

The weekend continues our trend of mild weather, with highs of around 80 degrees and lows in the lower 60s. Skies on Saturday should be mostly sunny, and although we’ll probably see more clouds on Sunday I think rain chances will remain near zero during the day time. There’s modest chance of light rain Sunday night as a front nears the region.

Next week

The aforementioned front should push into Houston on Monday, probably during the overnight hours but that’s not locked in. This will set the stage for slightly cooler weather for a day or two, with highs on Monday topping out at around 70 degrees, and overnight lows in the 50s. We warm back up before another front (probably) comes through on Wednesday. This one may bring a little rain with it, but beyond that the details are fuzzy. This one probably won’t have too much oomph either, so lows in the 50s seems like a good bet right now.