Eric Berger

Just a quick update today as the forecast has not changed much for the greater Houston area—and also, life sometimes finds a way of intruding on one’s work!

Today

A weak front moved into the region this morning, and it’s going to make for a gray, fairly cool day with highs likely only reaching the upper 60s. Skies may become partly sunny later this afternoon, and lows tonight should fall into the 50s for most of the region, except for along the coast. Enjoy the “winter” weather while it lasts.

Friday and Saturday

The onshore flow resumes by Friday morning, washing out the short-lived front and setting Houston up for a warm holiday weekend. The returning moisture will bring at least scattered showers and perhaps a few thunderstorms into the forecast for Friday and Saturday, and I expect high temperatures in the low- to mid-70s both days with partly cloudy to cloudy skies.

See full post

The winter solstice began early this morning, as the Sun reached its lowest point in the sky. Paradoxically, instead of seeing cooler weather over the next week or 10 days, Houston will instead warm back up over the Christmas Holiday, and perhaps most of the following week.

For the northern hemisphere today is the “shortest” day of the year, in terms of daylight. With a sunrise at 7:12am CT and sunset at 5:26pm, there is just 10 hours and 14 minutes of daylight. (At mid-summer the day is 14 hours, 3 minutes long). Here’s how that compares with the rest of the northern hemisphere on the winter solstice.

See full post

Good morning. The development of some clouds overnight helped keep the majority of the Houston metro region just above freezing temperatures this morning. The winds have finally died down, too, so wind chills are much less of a factor. Alas we’re going to return to very warm conditions by Christmas weekend.

Today

With a northeasterly wind we’re not exactly going to warm up all that much today—highs should only get into the low- to mid-50s under mostly sunny skies. Temperatures tonight will fall back into the mid-40s for most of the region.

See full post

For most areas of Houston the first freeze of the season arrived this morning, including a mark of 30 degrees at Bush Intercontinental Airport. This official “first freeze” of the season comes nearly nearly three weeks late for the city’s official weather station.

The following map shows temperatures across the region as of 7am CT, which range from the low 20s near College Station to upper 30s immediately along the coast. With winds still in the 10 to 15 mph range this morning, wind chill temperatures across most of Houston are in the teens to low 20s—very cold.

See full post