Eric Berger

I hope everyone is enjoying the sunny start to 2019. I’m just jumping in here on New Year’s Day to note that the messy pattern on Wednesday and Thursday—before a front sweeps through, and clears out our weather for a beautiful weekend—is trending wetter.

In short, the front responsible for our clear skies today has essentially stalled offshore, and this will allow moisture to flow back toward the Texas coast at higher levels of the atmosphere. Meanwhile, a slow-moving upper-level low pressure system will approach the region from the west, arriving in time to set up a wet pattern on Wednesday and Thursday. Whereas this looked like a moderate, 1-inch rain storm yesterday, it now appears capable of producing widespread areas of 1 to 3 inches of rainfall, with higher isolated totals.

During summertime, such rainfall amounts would be of little concern. But now, in the middle of winter, with vegetation mostly dead or dormant and saturated soils, rainfall will not be readily absorbed, and will instead pond in yards as well as run into streets and bayous. We don’t anticipate too many problems, but there are some concerns about brief street flooding and area rivers. These waterways are falling from peaks on Sunday, but could rise again fairly quickly. According to Jeff Lindner of the Harris County Flood Control District, there is also concern for watersheds that respond like a river system: Cypress Creek, Little Cypress Creek, Willow Creek, Spring Creek, Cedar Bayou, and the creeks that drain into Addicks and Barker Reservoirs.

The rain potential begins to increase by Wednesday morning, and this mess should finally clear out by Thursday late morning, or afternoon. After that we can expect mostly sunny skies through the weekend—which still looks pretty spectacular for early January.

New Year’s Eve has dawned wet, gray, and cool but today’s weather should only improve from here as a modest cool front moves through and brings westerly winds to dry the region out. It appears as though we’ll see one more bout of rainfall during the mid-week period before a longer spell of drier weather settles over the region. Is anyone else tired of gray skies and on-again, off-again rain showers?

New Year’s Eve

Rain showers are ending from west to east, and should exit the area entirely by around 10am. We may see a few visits from the Sun later today, but skies will likely remain mostly cloudy this afternoon as temperatures rise into the low-60s. Fortunately, this front isn’t too strong, so we’re not going to see blustery conditions later today and tonight. In fact, as the sun sets this evening, winds should die down with it. Therefore, for festivities tonight, we can expect partly cloudy skies, temperatures near 50 degrees, and generally pleasant conditions. Please celebrate responsibly!

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Good morning! The worst of Wednesday night’s and Thursday’s morning’s thunderstorms are now moving eastward, and the remainder of the storms should be off the coast by around 10 or 11am this morning. After several days of 70-degree weather, winter should now feel more like winter in the greater Houston area.

Thursday

Storms on Wednesday and Thursday brought a healthy amount of rain, with 1-3 inches generally, and a few reports of damaging winds. This morning, there are a few high-water sites on area roadways, but for the most part no major concerns. Temperatures have fallen into the mid-50s as the front moves through, and as rains end later this morning, we should see some clearing skies later this afternoon that will allow highs to get up to about 70 degrees. Lows tonight should drop down to about 50 degrees.

Friday

This still looks to be the pick of the litter for this week, and perhaps next as well. Look for highs in the mid-60s, with mostly sunny skies, and light winds. This will probably be the last time we really see the Sun in 2018.

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