Eric Berger

Friday night’s storms were pretty dramatic in terms of thunder and lightning for some areas of Houston, including rodeo goers. I’ll admit that I didn’t think the capping inversion would break that dramatically, but it did, allowing some scattered, but severe thunderstorms to form. There were a few pockets of heavy rain, as well, with some parts of south Houston and Clear Lake picking up 2.5 inches of rain.

The good news is that the cool front associated with the upper-level low pressure system has moved to the coast, and should move offshore shortly after noon. For Houston, then, the rain is over and we should see a couple of mostly sunny days this weekend, with high temperatures in the low 80s.

I’m not ready to 100 percent rule out the chances of some stray showers Sunday night, but I think for the most part we’re going to see pleasant weather from now through about Tuesday, with continuing mostly sunny skies and highs in the low- to mid-80s. A chance of storms returns to the forecast on Wednesday, perhaps later in the day. But whereas the dynamics for severe weather and some heavy rain in Houston once appeared to be pretty favorable next Wednesday, for now I think the threat of these is diminishing a bit. We’ll be back with a full update on Monday.

Posted at 11:45am CT on Saturday by Eric

We’re almost to the weekend! Houston may experience some potentially dynamic weather this afternoon. But after that the region should see a mostly pleasant weekend.

Friday

The much talked about upper-level system has now moved out of the Rocky Mountains, and is pushing a line of showers and thunderstorms to the east. As of 6:30am CT these storms were still well west of Interstate 35, so they won’t reach the Houston area until this afternoon.

My thoughts remain much the same as they’ve been this week—this should be a fairly fast moving line of storms, and while there is the potential for some thunderstorms, I think the bulk of the severe weather should remain to the north-northeast of the Houston metro area. In terms of rainfall, accumulations for most areas should be around 0.5 inch, or less, as the storms continue to move at a good clip through the region. They’ll probably reach the region at some point after about 1pm and then exit this evening. Some rain, frankly, would be helpful in dissipating the heavy pollen.

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The warmth continues, and we’ll have to watch for the possibility of storms on Friday.

Today

We’ll see another day a lot like Wednesday—which is to say a chance of early morning fog and then warm, with highs in the low- to mid-80s. Temperatures will again be near record highs for late March, especially for the southern half of the region. (Houston’s Hobby Airport, for example, has already tied two records this week).

Conditions tonight will be quite warm, perhaps only falling to around 70 degrees for areas closer to the coast. A more noticeable change will come with the winds, which will pick up in response to a potent upper-level system moving into the central plains states, and pushing toward the eastern United States. For Houston, this means winds will increase to about 20mph by Friday morning, with higher gusts.

Friday

We’re continuing to watch for the possibility of severe weather in Houston from the late-morning period through the late afternoon hours. As that upper-level system moves across the plains, it should produce a fairly potent line of storms at the surface. As this line moves from west to east across Texas, its southern boundary could pass through the northern Houston area, bringing the threat of strong thunderstorms and damaging winds, especially for areas around Conroe and points north.

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Spring has come to Houston, and that means a steady diet of 80-degree temperatures for at least the next week or so. A risk of storms remains on Friday.

Today and Thursday

We’ll see continued warm weather—for this time of year—as high pressure sort of sways across Texas during the next couple of days. Expect partly to mostly cloudy skies and highs in the low- to mid-80s. These are near-record high temperatures for this time of year. Lows will moderate into the low- to mid-60s. The primary concern will be the possibility of some scattered, dense fog.

Friday

As we’ve been discussing, an upper-level low pressure system, and an associated cold front, will move off the Rocky Mountains later this week and drag what will probably be a significant line of storms across parts of the central and southern United States. Most of the action should be north of the Houston metro area, but we’ll need to be wary of the possibility of a few severe thunderstorms north of interstate 10.

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