Matt Lanza

Friday showers foretell a showery weekend

After a few showers yesterday, we should see a few more around today. An unsettled weather pattern is going to remain in control through Saturday night before some more pleasant weather next week. The details…

Today Through Sunday

Today will be a bit of a tricky one. There’s going to be a chance of showers anywhere at almost any time today, but exactly how widespread the showers are and where they are will have to be something tackled as the day goes on. A “backdoor” cold front (coming from the northeast) will collide with ample Gulf moisture, some instability, and some upper level energy. The combination will lead to scattered showers and a chance of thunderstorms. The best chances will probably be both northeast and southwest of Houston.

One model solution today shows storms northeast of Houston and scattered showers south of the city. This is a plausible solution. (Weather Bell(

 

But as you can see, everyone will be at risk for a shower or storm today, so I recommend an umbrella. Severe weather on a widespread scale is unlikely, but there could be a strong storm northeast of the city this afternoon.

Temperatures will be mild, with highs in mid to upper 70s. If you have Friday night plans, the same umbrella advice applies. We should see most activity diminish, but new showers will likely develop in spots. We could also see some steadier rain develop south of Houston toward Saturday morning.

(Space City Weather is sponsored by an anonymous donor this month.)

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See lightning over Houston in an incredible new way

Back in November, meteorologists were euphoric as a satellite named GOES-R (now GOES-16) was launched into orbit. “GOES” stands for “Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite.” For meteorologists, it represents the future of weather observation from space. The satellite is now sending back imagery and data in an experimental, non-operational capacity. GOES-16 will be declared operational and unleashed for use in forecasting and observations later this year.

There’s a lot to love in GOES-16. We’ll have higher resolution imagery from a satellite than we’ve ever had in North America. In fact, at times, the satellite will be capable of sending back pictures every 30 seconds. By comparison, that’s more frequent than what a land-based Doppler radar typically scans. It will have 16 bands of imagery compared to five bands on the current GOES fleet. These satellites will give us more to look at, more to study, and more high quality data that will be ingested in weather models to help with short and medium range forecasts. It will also have the ability to see lightning.

Geostationary Lightning Mapper

The geostationary lightning mapper, or GLM, attached to GOES-16 can detect changes in a scene that indicate there’s lightning present. It’s the first such operational lightning mapper in orbit. The GLM will give us a capability to see and study lightning in a brand new way. It will also allow us to build up a historical database of lightning across much of the Western Hemisphere, including the tropics and deep oceans, where we lack a lot of good observational data. Best of all, it will allow for some really cool visualizations of storms.

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Mixed reviews for Houston’s weekend weather

Good morning, and happy Go Texan Day, y’all! Today looks great, but this weekend should get mixed reviews, as we’ll be dealing with some rain chances dampening things a bit. On to the details.

Today & Saturday morning

Today will be a fine day. We are starting off a bit chilly this morning, with a lot of 40s on the board north and west of Houston.

Another cool start this morning, with plenty of 40s and low 50s in the area. (NOAA/NWS)

 

It looks mostly sunny and dry this morning and afternoon. We’ll have some high clouds skirting through from time to time, but overall it looks to be a nice day. Temperatures should get up to near 70 degrees with a modest breeze.

It should be a quiet evening, though it won’t be quite as cool as this morning or Thursday morning. Temperatures should start Saturday about five to ten degrees warmer than those days. Clouds will begin to increase tonight as well, leading to a mostly cloudy, but likely quiet Saturday morning. It *should* be good weather for the Downtown Rodeo Parade or the Rodeo Run. We can’t entirely rule out a sprinkle or some light rain, but steadier rain should hold off until after Noon.

Saturday’s rain *should* hold off until after the Rodeo Run and Downtown Parade.

 

You’ll still want to keep tabs on the forecast before you head out in the morning, just to be safe.

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A mostly nice weekend for Houston

After a nice, albeit warm day on Thursday, we’ll see a near-repeat today. This before a cold front gives us even nicer weather tomorrow.

Today & Saturday

No record highs were set on Thursday, though Houston did eclipse 80° for the 19th time this winter, extending our record. We should be able to make it an even 20 days today. Officially, highs should peak in the low to mid 80s after some morning clouds give way to sunshine.

Speaking of clouds, be on the lookout this morning (especially southeast of Houston), as there could be some neat wavy or rolling type low clouds. What appears to be an “undular bore” or “gravity wave” is coming through Houston this morning.

An undular bore or gravity wave was seen coming through Houston on radar this morning, as indicated by the “wavy” nature of wind velocities. (GR Level 3)

It’s not a rare event, but it’s cool when you can catch it.

You may not really notice it, but a cold front is going to plow through the region later today. The wind will shift to an offshore direction and humidity will plummet.

Dewpoints and humidity will plummet today as the cold front moves through the region. (Weather Bell)

 

This will lead to a crisp, cool night tonight with lows in 40s in most places (near 50 in the city). It also means Saturday will be epic. Highs will hit the upper 60s to near 70°, and we’ll have oodles of sunshine and low humidity. Bottle it up and save it.

(Space City Weather is sponsored this month by Darrell Lee’s The Gravitational Leap)

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