Though it won’t feel like it, Christmas weekend is upon us. Some of us may have trouble seeing it though; not due to too much eggnog but probably due to some dense fog. Let’s dive into the details.
Today
A warm front is lifting through today, allowing warmer and more humid air to begin to flood northward. As this happens, we are seeing some fog around this morning. We already have low clouds, drizzle, showers, or steady light rain around also, and that may continue throughout the day.
Today shouldn’t be a washout, but occasional light rain, drizzle, or showers is likely. (Weather Bell)
Even with clouds and showers, we will warm up to the low 70s this afternoon.
For those of us in Southeast Texas, there was one potentially important item in the bill. It includes a provision to speed up feasibility studies for a coastal storm surge protection system for Galveston Bay and the Houston area. This is what is more commonly known as the “Ike Dike.” The provision was added by Senator John Cornyn.
If you’re suffering from weather whiplash in the Houston area, I can’t say I blame you. It’s been a rocky month so far, with a lot of big swings in temperature.
Official temperature readings at IAH have been full of turbulence.
We’re back on the way up today, charting a course that will translate into a wild swing in temperature Sunday.
Today & Saturday
The changes are already underway, as we have begun to slowly pump in humidity off the Gulf this morning. Expect a lot of cloud cover today, and don’t be shocked if you see a few raindrops also in the form of light rain, showers, or drizzle. We’ll peak in the upper 60s to low 70s this afternoon, and as we go into tonight, temperatures may hold steady or continue to slowly rise. In fact into tomorrow, it still looks as though we could push 80°, which would tie the record high for the date set in 1908, 1984, and 1990. December’s all-time record of 85° set on 12/3/1995 should be safe. That said, some model guidance is suggesting we could hit as warm as 83-84° tomorrow; summer-lite for sure.
Saturday’s weather should feature a lot of clouds and a chance for a few showers here or there. The other issue Saturday, especially in the morning and evening, will be dense fog along the coast and bays.
This week the Texas Tribune, along with ProPublica, unleashed their second in-depth piece on Houston’s flooding risk. This one, entitled “Boomtown, Flood Town,” takes a closer look at the Tax Day flood event of last April and a broader look at Houston’s flood risk in the context of policy, development, and future climate change. It’s a long, thorough read, and I highly recommend the piece. This supplements their work earlier this year about our hurricane and storm surge risk. I personally think that is one of the more important articles that exists on Houston’s vulnerability to hurricanes.
In the “Boomtown, Flood Town” piece, a number of issues related to April’s flood event and Houston development are addressed. As I said, I encourage you to check it out yourself, but in the meantime, here are some key points that I’m taking away from this
Problems
Houston’s flooding issues are important because more people die in Houston from flooding than in any other city. No other urban area in America has flooded as much as Houston in the last 40 years.
“Boomtown, Flood Town,” from the Texas Tribune and ProPublica.
