Matt Lanza

In brief: Hot, humid weather stays in Houston through Sunday before a return to a much stormier weather pattern Sunday night through Tuesday. Heavy rain is a good bet, along with the potential for some flash flooding during that time.

Yesterday was 93° here in Houston. Just a reminder to folks, especially with so many added events happening across town due to the World Cup: Stay hydrated (with water) and wear sunscreen. Early season heat is always a bit extra stressful on the body because we have not entirely acclimated to it yet. And with a lot of people doing a lot of not-typical early summer things, it can weigh on you. We just want to add in that note to remind folks of that as summer makes itself comfortable here.

Today & Saturday

Much like we’ve seen the last couple days, you may run into an isolated downpour at any point during the day. Nothing organized is expected to impact the area, but you may want to have an umbrella at the ready, just in case. We’re probably looking at about 91 to 93 degrees both days for highs.

Sunday

Deep tropical moisture will begin to pool over Texas later tomorrow and then especially Sunday and Monday. As these moisture levels increase, so too should the coverage of showers.

We don’t expect much of anything organized Sunday, but there will probably be somewhat greater coverage of downpours across the area. For those attending Germany vs. Curaçao or taking part in any of the festivities around town, just have an umbrella handy. Highs will be near 90 degrees.

Sunday night through Tuesday

The combination of tropical moisture off the Gulf, as well as an approaching “cool” front is likely going to lead to an outbreak of numerous downpours and thunderstorms across Texas, including in the Houston area. Our region has already been placed under a slight risk (level 2/4) for excessive rainfall and flooding risk for Monday.

Most areas should pick up a solid 1 to 2 inches of rain from this. We do expect there to be pockets of higher totals right now, above and beyond 3 to 4 inches, but it’s tough to say exactly where those are most likely. (Here? Louisiana? Both?) But this is something we will watch and update you on Sunday about. I would expect us to probably issue a Stage 1 or 2 flood alert, but we’ll see what the data shows through Sunday. Manageable but perhaps an inconvenience at times.

Either way, expect Monday to be close to a washout and perhaps Tuesday as well. Temperatures will struggle mightily as a result, with highs probably only in the mid-80s at best on those days.

Rest of next week

We should begin to dry out from the heavier rains Wednesday and Thursday, but the pattern still looks a bit unsettled. Temperatures should begin to warm up again, back to the low-90s by the weekend.

In brief: With the World Cup’s Houston leg kicking off on Sunday, we take a look at the different types of weather our visiting nations usually experience at home and how they compare to our weather here in Southeast Texas.

We wanted to have some fun with the World Cup participants coming to Houston this year, so as a weather site, we decided to take a weather angle. Let’s learn some new things about global weather!

A lot has been made of this World Cup and the heat some of the teams will face on the pitch across North America. Here in Houston, thankfully the games will be in the climate-controlled confines of Reliant Houston Stadium (apologies to our gracious sponsors Reliant for removing their name on the stadium, but everything about the FIFA needs to be sanitized and controlled, of course). ANYWAY. It could be 110 degrees outside, and the teams playing each other in the stadium would never know it. But, during the rest of their stay in Houston, they will get reminders of our climate here in Southeast Texas. So we wanted to ask the question: How does the weather stack up in June in Houston compared to the countries where these national teams are coming from?

First, let’s introduce our contestants.

Germany
Curaçao
Portugal
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Netherlands
Sweden
Uzbekistan
Cabo Verde
Saudi Arabia

We won’t get into the knockout rounds for the purposes of this post. First, take a pause, look at the list, and take a guess as to which countries have the most similar weather to Houston and the most *dissimilar* weather to Houston. I am writing this before researching, and I will throw out Curaçao and Sweden as most and least similar respectively as guesses.

So with that out of the way, let’s go down the list and start comparing.

Germany

From what I have read and heard, Germany can be lovely in June. The first Reddit hit I get on Google in r/germany is entitled “June in germany Sucks,” however, so I suppose your mileage may vary. It’s also fairly large. Germany can have some variable weather in June from place to place, with temperatures ranging from the upper-60s to 80s most days. Heat waves can occur with temperatures well into the 90s. Taking June 15th as a decent proxy for the month and looking at the four largest Germany cities, here’s what we get.

City	Average High	Average Low	Record High	Record Low
Berlin	71°	56°	86°	45°
Munich	72°	53°	86°	39°
Frankfurt	75°	55°	90°	43°
Hamburg	70°	52°	86°	41°

Records can get into the low 90s in most places, with even some mid-90s. The sun sets as late as almost 10 PM in Hamburg, which is the farthest north of these cities as well, so there’s plenty of evening light to enjoy. Temperatures can obviously be cooler in the Alps as well. Rainfall averages about 2 to 3 inches in June across the country.

Verdict: Not at all like Houston.

Curaçao

A lot has been made about the kits Curaçao might have worn had they been the “away” team at a match in their first ever World Cup, though unfortunately it seems like that will only happen if they can miraculously make the knockout round.

What about their weather? Well, first of all, where is Curaçao? It’s considered a “constituent island country” that is part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is in the far southern Caribbean, just off the coast of Venezuela and east of Aruba. Thus, it has quite the tropical climate, even more so than Houston. Average highs in June are around 81 to 82 degrees and average lows are 79 to 80 degrees. There’s not exactly a whole lot of variability to the weather there during the course of the year, being less than 1,000 miles from the Equator. June rainfall averages around 2 inches.

Curaçao is also far enough south to generally avoid most tropical storms and hurricane. Over the last 175 years, there has only been one direct hit by a tropical storm (Cesar in 1996) and the closest hurricane to pass near the island occurred in October 1892, when a presumed category 2 storm passed just south of the island.

Verdict: Not severely dissimilar from Houston but with much less variability than we have.

Portugal

On the west coast of Europe, Portugal has a generally pleasant Mediterranean climate. It is one of the warmest countries in Europe overall. In June in Lisbon, average highs are near 80 degrees, with average lows in the 60s. Farther north, it cools off some. If you were looking for a comparable U.S. city to Lisbon, it might be Los Angeles (77/61 this time of year on average). If you wanted a comparable U.S. city to Porto in June, it might be Portland. OR (74/54 this time of year on average).

June	Average High	Average Low	Record High	Record Low
Lisbon	79°	62°	99°	52°
Porto	73°	57°	99°	45°

Portugal’s summer, like in the American West is their dry season. June only averages just shy of an inch of rain. In other words, summer in Portugal, while periodically hot, is generally delightful.

Verdict: Much drier and more comfortable than Houston.

Democratic Republic of the Congo

The DRC is the largest country in sub-Saharan Africa. Basically, it sits almost squarely in the middle of the continent, almost bisecting the Equator, with roughly 1/3 of the country in the Northern Hemisphere and 2/3 in the Southern Hemisphere. Much of the DRC is flat or with gently rolling terrain, but there is a major mountain range called the Rwenzori Mountains on the eastern border of the DRC with Uganda. The highest peak there, shared by both the DRC and Uganda is called Margherita Peak that stands 16,762 feet in elevation. One of the more dominant geographic features in the DRC is the Congo River, which carries the second highest volume of water of any river in the world (the Amazon River is #1).

Anyway, with that being said, the DRC has a fairly complex climate given that it straddles the Equator! The southern part of the country has a wet season in their summer/our winter. And the opposite holds true in the northern third of the country. You can clearly see that below, where Kisangani (in the north) averages over 4 inches of rain in June, while Lubumbashi in the south averages literally no rain at all in June.

June	Average High	Average Low	Average Rainfall
Kisangani (north)	86°	70°	4.50″
Lubumbashi (south)	77°	46°	0.00″

Verdict: Way too complicated to be similar to Houston, but Kisangani isn’t terribly far off.

Netherlands

Given its proximity to Germany in Europe, one would assume the Netherlands has a fairly similar climate, and you’d be right to an extent. Amsterdam is only about 200 miles west of Hamburg.

June	Average High	Average Low	Record High	Record Low
Amsterdam	71°	55°	82°	40°

But the country’s proximity to the North Sea does a heck of a job moderating the temperature. There’s a significant discrepancy between the record values in Amsterdam when compared to Hamburg, where the records are primarily in the 80s, with a couple 90s in June. Hamburg has far more records in the 90s. So they tend to miss out on the worst of the heat in the Netherlands, but they can still get hot. The all-time record high in Germany was 106° in Duisburg in July 2019. In the Netherlands, the record is merely a degree cooler (105°) also in July 2019.

Houston is very similar to the Netherlands in one area: Flooding. While much of the flooding the Dutch face comes from the sea and from rivers, they are considered the world leaders in flood control. And a highly engaged relationship has grown between Houston and Amsterdam.

Verdict: Similar challenges to Houston but not similar weather.

Sweden

Our farthest north country, the Swedes enjoy a wide diversity of latitude, stretching about 1,000 miles from top to bottom. Stockholm, the capital and largest city lies on the eastern side of the country, on the Baltic Sea. The largest cities are in the south, including Stockholm, Malmo (across the bridge from Copenhagen) and Gothenburg.

June	Average High	Average Low	Average Rainfall
Stockholm	69°	50°	2.40″
Gothenburg	65°	49°	1.75″

Highs generally average in the 60s and 70s throughout June with lows in the 40s and 50s. It has gotten as hot as 100 degrees in Målilla in the interior south way back in June of 1947.

Verdict: Much too temperate to even be comparable to Houston.

Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan was on my radar recently because I noticed that Foreign Grill over in the POST Houston, serves authentic Uzbek food. I will have to try that out. Uzbekistan is a landlocked country in western Asia. It is bordered by several other Stan countries. Of the seven total Stan nations, the only one that does not border Uzbekistan is Pakistan.

Being landlocked likely means an interesting, probably somewhat arid climate, right? Right. Tashkent, the largest city and capital of the country averages 17 and a half inches of rain. Per year. And much of the rest of the country is drier than that. Put it this way, there are places in Uzbekistan that see as much rain in a year as we see in an hour from our heaviest downpours. About 80 percent of Uzbekistan is desert. The summer is their drier season, and June typically only sees about a half-inch of rainfall in the capital.

June	Average High	Average Low	Record High	Record Low
Tashkent	92°	65°	109°	39°

Verdict: Suffice to say, Houston is not 80 percent desert. The Uzbeks will get a dose of true humidity here.

Cabo Verde

Cabo Verde and Cape Verde are basically interchangeable. For many years, we called it Cape Verde, but the country officially changed names to the Republic of Cabo Verde back in 2013. For most of us in Houston that recognize this nation, it’s because of hurricanes. Why? Because every disturbance that comes off the coast of Africa passes near the Cabo Verde Islands. In fact, August and September are often referred to as “Cape Verde” or “Cabo Verde season.” While Curaçao has seen less than 30 storms pass within 70 miles, Cabo Verde has seen over 65 of them that we know since the 1850s. Only 3, however were hurricanes at that point: Fred in 2015, Debbie in 1961 (which became a hurricane only after passing through), and an unnamed storm in 1892.

A lot is made of storms that form near Cabo Verde, but in reality of those 66 storms, only 9 have impacted the U.S., and only one made it to the Gulf (an unnamed 1947 storm that hammered Fort Lauderdale and flooded New Orleans).

Weather-wise, one might assume that Cabo Verde is frequently impacted by tropical waves emerging off the African west coast. However it’s actually a very arid country. In fact, much of Cabo Verde sees maybe 2 to 6 inches of rain annually. However, because it is mountainous, orographically induced precipitation can yield closer to 40 inches of rain at higher elevations. The bulk of the precipitation does come from tropical waves, and August, September, and less so October are the only wet months of the year.

June	Average High	Average Low	Record High	Record Low
Cabo Verde	81°	71°	93°	59°

Because it’s surrounded by water, it’s a bit cooler than the coast of mainland Africa but with warmer ocean temperatures.

Verdict: Cooler, drier, and less hurricane-prone (ironically) than Houston. No dice.

Saudi Arabia

We saved the hottest for last. Saudi Arabia, of course, is located in the very arid Middle East. While the vast majority of the country is just outright desert, the southwest (south of Jeddah and Mecca) does have higher mountains. It’s actually an escarpment that marks the eastern edge of the Great Rift. Most of the mountains north of Jeddah and Mecca are about 6,500 feet high or less. South of there, some of the peaks can get as high as 9,800 feet. The Soudah Peaks average about 79 degrees for highs in June and 51 for lows, far different than most of the rest of the country.

June	Average High	Average Low	Record High	Record Low
Jeddah	109°	82°	118°	68″
Riyadh	109°	83°	117°	70°
Dammam	111°	82°	123°	70°

We often hear about the massive humidity levels of the Persian Gulf, but that’s only on Saudi Arabia’s east coast. Dammam is the third largest city in the Kingdom and is right across from Bahrain. The average dewpoints in summer in Jeddah and Riyadh are in the 30s. The average summer dewpoints in Dammam are in the 60s and 70s. A 111° day with a dewpoint in the mid-60s can feel more like 115 to 120 degrees. A 111° day with a dewpoint in the 30s feels more like 105°, yes, cooler than the actual temperature.

Verdict: Houston is not a desert, nor is it as hot as some coastal cities along the Persian Gulf.

Final verdict

For the most similar countries, we can safely eliminate Saudi Arabia, Cabo Verde, Uzbekistan, Sweden, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Germany. That leaves us with Curaçao and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. By virtue of a slightly more variable climate and higher rainfall in June than Curaçao, I am declaring the northern DRC our champion. Feel free to tell me I am wrong in the comments.

As for who is most dissimilar? Sweden and Saudi Arabia for opposite reasons may be the champions. I would crown Uzbekistan a runner up.

Hopefully you enjoyed this and also learned a thing or two about different climates around the world!

In brief: This is the first in a series of World Cup-related posts for Houston and our visitors. In this one, we tackle typical June weather in Houston and introduce folks to some insider knowledge to help manage the weather in the Bayou City.

For our regular Space City Weather readers, you’ll already know a lot of this, but perhaps a nice refresher can’t hurt! And for those of you visiting Houston for the World Cup or coming to our fair city for the first time, here are some weather and community things to know! We’ll have some additional World Cup themed posts in the coming days.

Pick your outdoor time carefully

Houston’s all about the heat in summer. I’ve been a meteorologist in Houston for 14 years now, and while August is by far our most oppressive month, June begins the process of testing you. Average highs through June increase to about 93 degrees by the time Germany and Curaçao take the pitch this weekend. Morning lows aren’t much better. While they average about 75 degrees, that usually comes with a good bit of humidity.

The first piece of advice: Utilize the evening hours for outdoor exercise. Houston usually gets a nice sea breeze off the Gulf that arrives in the city around 5 or 6 PM. That can come with increased humidity, but once temperatures begin to level off during the evening hours, the breeze offsets it a good bit. Conversely, the mornings can be still, thick, and rather gross.

If you do need to get out for a run or walk, Houston has a wonderful and underrated park system. Hermann Park is a particular jewel in the middle of the Museum District north of Reliant Stadium and the Texas Medical Center, with trails, a delightful Japanese garden, a golf course, the Houston Zoo, and much more. Hermann Park is also adjacent to or a short walk from the Museum of Natural Science, Museum of Fine Arts, Children’s Museum, and Health Museum, among others.

Some Houston June temperature superlatives: The hottest recorded temperature during the period of the World Cup in Houston was 107 degrees back on June 29, 2013. 100 degrees or better has been achieved 67 times through the June 14 to July 4 period. So, brace yourself, you wild Oranjefans and stay hydrated!

Move that water

To the outside, Houston is known as Space City because of its prominent place in U.S. space history, but the official nickname is the Bayou City. Houston is divided up by a network of bayous, each with its own character and watershed. The bayous serve a natural purpose by conveying water from the frequent downpours the areas receives through the region and out into Galveston Bay and eventually the Gulf. Despite dividing up the city, they will also connect many neighborhoods through a complex and massive trail system known as the Bayou Greenways. The intent is that people will be able to get across much of the city via the trail network in the future.

But the bayous are ultimately the freeway network for water here in Houston, and we get a lot of it. Houston averages about 52 inches of rain per year, which is about 13 inches more than Seattle. The difference is that in Houston, when it rains, it rains. Our wettest month of the year on average is June, when the city normally receives about 6 inches of rain. However, that can vary. In June of 2004, we received over 18 inches of rain here in Houston, with no tropical storms and eight days of an inch or more. The following June, we received less than one-tenth of an inch of rain over the entire month. So far this month, we’re tracking wetter, with some places seeing -a lot- of rain.

And this after a wet May.

Much like it does season to season, summertime thunderstorms in Houston will vary from place to place. A typical summer day features thunderstorms developing near the coast or just inland in the morning hours, moving into the city and north and west during the afternoon hours. But many areas will hear thunder or see nothing at all, while a few places pick up an inch or two of rain. The dividing line between “rain o’clock” and nothing at all can be razor thin all summer long. We seem to have this pattern already well established this month, so as long as there remains available atmospheric moisture, we should expect daily thunder chances in the Houston area. Thankfully, the matches will be played indoors.

For folks visiting Houston, it’s important to understand that the rain here is probably not what you’re used to unless you live in the tropics. It falls hard, sometimes at a rate of 3 to 5 inches an hour. Flooding of streets happens frequently during the worst rain events. More serious flooding is rarer, but it does occasionally happen, and as a visitor to Houston, you should know two key things. First, Houston’s streets are a part of the drainage system. That’s not a typo. While the bayous serve as the first defense against flooding, the fact of the matter is that even the best drainage systems struggle to keep up with rain rates as intense as we see here in Houston. Thus, the street network sort of acts as a retention network for water. You’d rather have streets flood than buildings. Houston can’t engineer flooding away but this solution does mitigate it to a certain extent.

The second thing you should know is how to receive weather warnings. In most cases, your phone can prompt you about flash flood or tornado warnings. Brian Mason, the director of the Houston Office of Emergency Management recommends their AlertHouston mobile alert system. “We have created a special keyword for messaging during World Cup. Text HOUWC26 to 888777 to receive weather-related and other local emergency alerts from Houston Office of Emergency Management.” Some people may be wary of another push notification, but I would strongly encourage folks visiting to opt-in to these alerts during your time here.

Flooding can also be linked to tropical storms and hurricanes. Houston has not been directly impacted by a hurricane in June since 1921, but there have been numerous tropical storms including the infamous Allison in 2001, which deposited nearly 40 inches of rain on a portion of the city. The most recent early season hurricane was Beryl in early July of 2024, an intense category 1, almost category 2 storm that caused severe tree damage to the Houston area resulting in massive power disruptions. But cases like this are rare, and Houston’s more serious hurricane impacts typically don’t occur until August or September. As of right now, we are not expecting tropical activity in the Houston area this month.

In brief: While numerous rain showers will continue in the Houston area today and probably tomorrow, the overall trend will be toward slightly less coverage toward Sunday. This should lead to a rather classic June week next week with heat, humidity, and hopefully some cooling downpours each afternoon.

Numerous showers and thunderstorms have impacted the region the last few days. Pockets of the area have seen as much as 3 to 5 inches of rainfall. Are we heading for a repeat of last summer, where it rained basically every day somewhere? Too soon to say, but we’re off to a tolerable start to summer to say the least.

Today and tomorrow

We’ve got a batch of showers that’s been following I-45 south of Downtown and then 290 and 249 northwest of Downtown since the overnight hours.

For the rest of today, we are expecting numerous showers and some thunderstorms across the area. Coverage may focus away from the coast today. Some areas will skate around the rain, but others will cash in once more. We should do it once again tomorrow, though I would not be shocked if we see a few heavier storms embedded tomorrow too. We’ll top off in the mid-80s today and mid to perhaps upper-80s tomorrow if we have just a little less coverage.

Sunday

By the end of the weekend, rainfall coverage should back into more of a typical summer pattern. Heavier showers will be near the coast in the morning, then perhaps inland by afternoon. But overall coverage should begin to scale back some here. Highs will be around 90 degrees.

Next week

For most of next week, we establish a very June weather setup across Southeast Texas. Sun, clouds, isolated to scattered afternoon thunderstorms, heat, and humidity. Highs will be in the lower-90s, hopefully with many of us seeing some cooling afternoon downpours. One note about next week: I think we’re going to see nighttime lows start to rev up a bit.

We’ve only had four mornings this year above 75 degrees at Bush Airport (compared to 14 at this same point last year). We should string together several of them next week. As we prep for the endless World Cup events across the area, it’ll definitely feel the season. More for you Monday!