Eric Berger

The northern part of the metro area saw some briefly strong showers on Wednesday, with up to 0.5 inch of rain falling near Tomball and The Woodlands. Since then, the atmosphere has continued to dry out, and high pressure strengthened somewhat. This should continue to diminish the coverage and intensity of any rain showers today, leading to a mostly dry period until Sunday or Monday.

Thursday

Skies will be partly to mostly sunny today under the influence of the aforementioned high pressure. We can’t rule out some isolated showers along the sea breeze later today, but chances are probably less than 20 percent, and anything that forms won’t last too long. Highs will generally be in the mid-90s with ample humidity. Low temperatures won’t be a whole lot better, with parts of the region not falling below 80 degrees tonight.

Friday

This should be pretty much a hot and sunny day, with highs in the mid 90s and not much else to say.

Saturday

The first half of the weekend looks to be mostly a repeat of Friday, although a chance of some sea breeze storms may creep back into forecast during the afternoon. Overall, look for highs in the mid-90s with partly to mostly sunny skies.

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Despite a tropical air mass, rain showers have been really hit or miss across the Houston region over the last four days. Some areas, like The Woodlands, have picked up 3 or more inches of rain. Other parts of south and central Harris County have received no rain at all. Pretty much everyone has seen a lot of gray skies, but that will now change as tropical moisture from former Hurricane Barry moves away, and high pressure moves into Houston.

Tuesday

Bit of a tricky forecast for today, as atmospheric moisture levels remain elevated, and high pressure really hasn’t begun to assume control of our weather just yet. However, there are no significant forcings for rainfall today, so we’re probably looking at scattered showers and thunderstorms today—not the kind of slow-moving clumps of storms we saw on Monday in areas like southern Montgomery County. A few areas may pick up a half inch of rain, or so, but most of Houston will probably remain dry. Skies otherwise should be partly sunny, with highs in the low 90s.

Wednesday and Thursday

As high pressure builds over the area, we should start to see mostly sunny days, with rain chances only in the 10 to 20 percent range (mostly during the afternoon, along the sea breeze). These will be prototypical July days for Houston, with lots of sunshine, and highs in the low- to mid-90s. Nighttime temperatures in the upper 70s won’t offer much relief and the humidity will add to the sultry mix.

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Most of the Houston area remained dry—if cloudy—on Sunday. But the moist atmosphere in the wake of fading Tropical Depression Barry remained evident in areas such as Beaumont, which picked up 4 inches of rain. This moist atmosphere remains for one more day, and along with it the potential for heavy rainfall, before a drier pattern begins to build on Tuesday.

Monday

The highest risk for heavy rainfall remains east of the Houston metro area today, from Beaumont through Louisiana. Most of the city and surrounding counties will see less than one-half inch of rain. However, the eastern half of Houston remains at a slight risk of picking up an additional 1 to 3 inches of rain fairly quickly. This could cause brief street flooding in a worst case scenario. Otherwise, partly cloudy skies should help to limit temperatures in the low 90s, but alas the humidity will be oppressive.

Tuesday

Rain chances will fall back to about 20 or 30 percent, as moisture levels remain fairly high in the atmosphere, but the region begins to feel the influence of high pressure. Any showers and thunderstorms that do develop should be fairly short lived. Partly to mostly sunny skies should allow high temperatures to climb back into the low- to mid-90s.

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