Eric Berger

Announcing the second winner of Reliant’s big AC Giveaway

We’re excited to announce the second winner of a complete AC system from Reliant! As you may recall, for the second year in a row, our sponsor has given away two AC systems to Houston area residents to help them beat the heat—and there has been plenty of heat to beat this year.

The winner of Phase II of Reliant’s AC Giveaway, Cassie and her family. (Photo courtesy of Reliant)

The winner of this year’s second AC System is Cassie, who lives in Friendswood. She has four children, some of whom are participating in virtual learning this fall due to COVID-19. She found out about the contest through our site’s Facebook page and decided to enter to keep her family comfortable while working and schooling from home safely. The family’s previous AC unit was in decent condition, but leaked water, wasn’t placed to code, and didn’t cool the house efficiently. So the installation of the new unit will make a world of difference for Cassie and her family. After learning that she had won the contest, here’s what Cassie had to say:

We are so grateful for Eric Berger and his weather team. They are our number one source of information! Winning this sweepstakes is such a bright spot after a truly very difficult summer. Thank you, thank you to Space City Weather and Reliant!

Likewise, we are thankful for our readers, as well as Reliant, who has been a great, long-time sponsor of our site. They keep the lights on for us, figuratively and literally.

In addition to providing electricity, Reliant alos offers AC and heating services, generators, indoor air quality checks, and thermostats through their home services division, plus special offers for Reliant customers. Check out this link for more information.

Before, and after. (Reliant)

This will wrap up the AC giveaways for 2020, but we’ve got some big things planned for Space City Weather and Reliant in the coming year, so be on the lookout for announcements soon. Thanks to everyone who participated!

Wait a second Houston, it really is fall and not summer

Given the weather events of the last couple of days—a hurricane making landfall in Louisiana, high temperatures in the low- to mid-90s across Houston—you’d be forgiven if you thought the calendar read mid-August, rather than mid-October. However a pair of fronts this week will remind us that we’re heading deeper into fall.

Monday

It is rather warm and muggy this morning, with lows only on the mid-70s across the region, and sweaty dewpoints to match. With the exception of areas far to our northwest, such as College Station, a cold front will not arrive in time to modify our high temperatures today, which should reach around 90 degrees.

However, the arrival of this weak front later today in Houston should bring drier air into the region overnight, allowing for lows to generally drop into the upper 60s. There will be a slight chance of rain showers with the frontal passage later this afternoon or evening along the coast. Although the front will be most noticeable west of Interstate 45, it is now expected to make it all the way off the coast.

Change in temperatures for Tuesday morning, compared to Monday morning. (Weather Bell)

Tuesday

This should be a pleasant day, with dry air, highs in the mid-80s. Winds will be light, out of the north or northeast. Lows Tuesday night should drop into the low- to mid-60s. Skies will be clear.

Wednesday and Thursday

These will be a pair of slightly warmer, and more humid days while we await this week’s second front—due to arrive later on Thursday. Highs likely will be in the mid- to upper-80s, and there’s perhaps a 30 percent chance of rain on Thursday afternoon or evening as the front blows through. This will be a stronger front that will bring noticeably cooler weather for the weekend.

Friday

We expect to see mostly sunny skies, with highs perhaps only in the low 70s. Lows Friday night should be the coolest of the week, with temperatures possibly dropping into the 40s for areas well inland, and the 50s for most of Houston.

An early look at Saturday morning’s low temperatures. (Pivotal Weather)

Saturday and Sunday

We’re expecting a sunny weekend, with highs in the mid-70s to 80 degrees. The onshore flow may return by Sunday, or we may get yet another front—as of yet there is not great agreement on that in the global models.

Delta moving northeast to Louisiana, brushing Houston with winds

2 pm CT Friday Update: Hurricane Delta is now moving north-northeast toward Louisiana, and will make landfall later this afternoon or early evening, likely around sunset. Delta has weakened slightly, to 110 mph, but because it has grown into a large storm it will push a powerful storm surge into Vermillion Bay and nearby areas. Its winds will batter areas already devastated by Hurricane Laura just six weeks ago.

The winds we’re feeling in Houston today are due to that expanding wind field. Galveston Island recently recorded a gust of 58 mph, to go along with sustained winds of 45 mph—above Tropical Storm levels. Further inland, many locations in Houston have recorded gusts of 30 mph or above today. These winds are probably about at their maximum levels, and will begin to wind down later this afternoon or early evening as Delta moves further to the northeast.

Map of wind gusts and radar at 1:30 pm CT Friday. (National Weather Service)

As expected, rains have been falling primarily over the eastern half of the metro area, with as much as 1 inch near Galveston Bay, while no rain has come down over West Houston. Expect rain chances to ebb later this afternoon and evening as well.

It’s a similar story with tides and waves along the coast, but the storm’s approach at low tide (this afternoon) is helping to mitigate some of the surge we’re seeing along the upper Texas coast. We still expect to see a fair amount of beach erosion.

Delta will move quickly away tonight. The bottom line is that beginning tomorrow, summer returns to Houston, with sunny skies and, by Sunday, highs in the 90s. With fair weather over head, we should probably be thinking about what we can do to help our hard-hit neighbors to the east in Louisiana. They have endured a terrible one-two punch from the tropics this year.

We’ll see you on Monday morning.

Hurricane Delta update: No major changes to our forecast

1:45pm CT Update: Good afternoon folks. We promised an update on Hurricane Delta today, but to be honest there are no significant forecast changes to report. As expected, the storm’s wind field is expanding, and its maximum sustained winds have increased slightly, to 105 mph today. Confidence in the forecast track bringing Delta to southwestern Louisiana late Friday afternoon or evening remains high—all of the 12z model guidance today supports this. The National Hurricane Center’s track is on point.

10am CT Delta forecast track. (National Hurricane Center)

In terms of local impacts, they remain the same as we posted about this morning. We expect moderate effects in Houston: Decent rain chances, gusty winds on Friday, and seas a few feet higher along the coast. Winds get stronger east of High Island, right along the coast.

Unless there are significant changes in the forecast, our next post will come on Friday morning, by 7:30am CT.