Eric Berger

Houston’s forecast: Miami today, Seattle tomorrow

Good morning. The basic forecast for this week calls for warm weather on Monday before a front sweeps through and keeps the region cool through Friday or Saturday. The notable thing about this front is that, tonight and Tuesday, it will bring our best chance of widespread rain in a month.

Monday

Temperatures on Monday will be quite warm, with highs near 80 degrees under mostly cloudy skies. A southwesterly flow will really pump warmth and moisture into the region, and at the surface we should see winds gusting up to 25 mph. The atmosphere generally will not support rain during the day, but that should change later on Monday night. But before the front arrives, we can expect a warm and humid night, with lows perhaps only dropping into the upper 60s.

Rain accumulation forecast for now through Tuesday night. (Pivotal Weather)

Tuesday

The cold front should reach far northwestern Harris County by or shortly after midnight, and reach the coast roughly around sunrise. The temperature should drop 10 to 15 degrees in the wake of the front, and highs on Tuesday are likely to fall through the 50s throughout the day. Winds will be quite gusty, out of the north at up to perhaps 30 mph. The front won’t immediately scour moisture from the atmosphere, so we should be left with a gray, wet day—with on-and-off, mostly light to moderate rainfall. Right now, we expect that most people will probably receieve 0.25 to 0.75 inches of rainfall, with a few outliers either way. Rains should end by around sunset on Tuesday.

See full post

Houston: Set your weather phasers to stunning

Sorry, I know these headlines are getting a bit cheesy. But how many ways can you say the weather is going to be be great?

Several readers have noted the region’s dry weather of late, and it’s true that almost the entire area has seen less rainfall than normal since Tropical Storm Imelda in September. The last 30 days—the percent of normal rainfall for this period is shown below—have been particularly dry. There is a reasonable chance that next week will see the return of a decent amount of precipitation, as we’ll discuss below.

Percent of normal rainfall over the last 30 days. (NOAA)

Thursday

Oh noes! For one day this week Houston may not see mostly sunny skies. That day is today. A southeasterly flow will push temperatures up into the 70s today, and bring enough moisture into the atmosphere such that we should see at least partly, if not mostly cloudy skies after this morning. Low temperatures tonight should get down into the low 60s for most.

Friday

After a warmish start during the early morning, a cold front should push into Houston between sunrise and noon. With only a modest amount of moisture return, I would expect most of us to see no rainfall at all, although we can’t entirely rule out a few spotty, very light showers. After the front, skies will clear, and we’ll see a beautiful day in the 70s.

See full post

Houston’s forecast: Sunny, partly sunny, then mostly sunny with a side of fall

Good morning. Our absolutely splendid weather continues. The only concern today is some dense fog to the southwest of Houston. Some parts of Wharton, Matagorda, and southern Fort Bend Counties are reporting visibilities of less than a quarter of a mile. This fog should clear by or before 9am.

Wednesday

A weak front is pushing through Houston, which will keep our great weather going. Light, northerly winds today will ensure a sunny day, with a high temperature of around 70 degrees. Wednesday night will be partly cloudy, with low temperatures generally in the low 50s. Can you complain about this? I dare you.

A weak front will help keep Wednesday night’s lows on the cool side. (Pivotal Weather)

Thursday

Expect a mix of sunshine and clouds as the onshore flow briefly returns. Highs will likely push into the mid-70s, with somewhat more humid air—but this is still going to be a really nice day for the region. Lows will probably only fall to around 60 degrees ahead of a cold front Friday morning.

See full post

Galaxy Lights offers a new holiday attraction for Houston

Note: This is a sponsored post written and published in conjunction with our relationship with Reliant.

This holiday season there’s a new lighting attraction in Houston, and it has a space theme. With a background in astronomy and a professional interest in aerospace, I was intrigued to check it out. For the first time, Space Center Houston has debuted an indoor and outdoor light show to celebrate both space exploration and the holiday season. It’s called Galaxy Lights, presented by Reliant.

I had a chance to visit the display earlier this month, which is running from 6pm to 10pm daily through January 5, and I enjoyed the experience. There are three main elements absolutely worth checking out during your visit. The first comes inside the space center’s main hall, where a high-tech kinetic light show dances overhead, with dozens of lights moving in choreographed sequences. This was pretty cool, and something I’d never seen before.

A view of the kinetic light show at Space Center Houston.

From there, it was off to the trams, to ride through a tunnel of lights underneath Saturn Lane—all told there are 250,000 lights along the way—to reach the large building where the titanic Saturn V rocket is housed. This large building is bedecked with lights. Once at Rocket Park, you walk through an outdoor display of lighted structures, including a 35-foot tall shooting star, shimmering planets, and more space-related light displays.

From Rocket Park, one can enter the building itself, to see the Saturn V booster lit up with some impressive 3D projection mapping. A short video story about “Commander Quest” is projected onto the rocket. There was more to see back in the museum, too, including the original film “Holidays in Space,” which includes footage of astronauts celebrating the holidays in space.

For families and adults, Galaxy Lights is a welcome new addition to the region’s holiday lighting scene. A full tour takes about two hours. The public price is $19.95 for admission, but on Reliant Wednesdays now until Christmas you can bring a new, unwrapped toy for the KHOU Toy Drive benefiting The Salvation Army of Greater Houston and receive $5 off general admission to Galaxy Lights.