Matt Lanza

Summary: An area of heavy rain is expected to setup just northwest of Houston on Saturday, while the rest of the area sees mostly scattered showers. Exactly where this sets up will mean the difference between a washout and some nuisance showers. No serious flooding concerns are expected. Another wave of rain passes to our north on Sunday before cooler, drier weather builds in Monday. Most of next week looks quiet before we watch, sigh, more rain risk next weekend.

Today

Expect a mix of clouds and maybe a touch of sun today. Some coastal fog may drift in and out through the day, so if you’re down in Galveston be aware of that. Otherwise, much like yesterday a few showers should float across the area today, so you may encounter a brief downpour or two through the day. This seems likeliest north of Houston. Highs should again be in the mid-70s.

Saturday

Time to plan around another wet weekend. At this point it appears that showers will begin to break out just before sunrise south of Houston and lift northward through the city in the early daylight hours. By mid to late morning, we will be watching for basically a conga line of rain and thunderstorms to establish somewhere in the area along a stalled frontal boundary.

Admittedly, this is a little tricky. Stalled fronts can be a royal pain to try and pin down, but the best data we have at this point says that this line of rain and storms will predominantly focus north and west of downtown Houston. Where will that be? The axis from Sealy through Magnolia through Conroe through Lake Livingston is probably the most likely corridor to see this heavier rain. As of this moment. Could that shift south and east some? Absolutely. Could it shift further north and west away from the area? Absolutely. Under that axis it will be close to a washout. A few miles difference in location could change Saturday’s outcome for a few hundred thousand people. No biggie. So it’s a forecast to watch. But look for that to establish by late morning.

Outside of that somewhat narrow axis, there will be scattered showers or rumbles of thunder. But the day will not be a washout. Galveston for Mardi Gras? Mostly fine. Most areas south of Houston will just see a few passing showers.

The areas that see the mostly stationary line of rainfall will probably see on the order of 1 to 3 inches. Those outside of that will see varying amounts from a quarter to half-inch or so. Look for a sharp gradient between the have-lots and have-nots. Flooding should be mostly just ponding and the usual trouble spots seeing water. Still, be careful if you are driving north and west of Downtown on Saturday.

Aside from rainfall, Saturday should be a mild day with temperatures in the 60s under the rain and low-70s away from the dreariness.

Sunday

Additional rain or showers will skirt the area on Sunday. Most of this is expected to remain to the north of the Houston metro, so think like College Station through Huntsville or out toward Lufkin. Some thunderstorms embedded in that rain could be strong, and a slight risk (level 2/5) for severe weather exists for Huntsville, Lake Livingston, and Lufkin. Amounts of rain should be more modest Sunday with perhaps up to an inch or so under the heaviest rain and a half-inch or less in most other places. It’s possible that Houston and points south of I-10 see little to nothing on Sunday. Most places should start in the 60s and get one final day in the 70s before next week’s cooler weather.

Monday

After several warmer days this week and weekend, Monday will be a bit of a stark change. We should see a good deal of sunshine Monday, but with a chilly, gusty northwest wind pulling down cooler air, we’ll only top off in the mid-50s after a morning in the 40s.

Tuesday through Thursday

Temperatures will bounce back into the 60s on Tuesday and perhaps upper 60s by Wednesday or Thursday. Morning lows will be in the 30s and 40s Tuesday, 40s Wednesday, and 50s Thursday. No meaningful weather is expected, and we’ll probably a mix of sun and clouds most days.

Beyond Thursday

At this point I think Friday will be quiet, but there is growing potential for another decent rainmaker next weekend. Yes, confidence in another wet weekend is increasing.

When we’re forecasting this far out, particularly with respect to rainfall, we’re just looking for signals, not specifics. But the signal for next weekend has been consistent for the last few days in suggesting rain. We’ll see how that evolves over the next few days. But if you have plans next Saturday or Sunday, I invite you to lodge a formal protest with Eric. We’ll have more on those chances Monday.

At least 422* times per winter (*approximately), the question of whether “the polar vortex is coming” seems to come up. The sources are many: Rogue social mediarologists who want engagement, well-intentioned meteorologists who are just trying to explain something but the wrong takeaway gets amplified, not-well-intentioned meteorologists who can’t help themselves, and weather enthusiasts who are misinterpreting model guidance.

We are in one of those phases now, so is the polar vortex coming for us again like it (sort of) did in January?

Just to get the science lesson quickly out of the way: Recall that the polar vortex is always there. It’s a permanent feature that typically sits over the North Pole, keeping the hemisphere’s coldest air in the polar region. When we refer to the “polar vortex,” what we’re really referring to is the stratospheric polar vortex, which sits miles above the North Pole but keeps the cold locked in. During the wintertime, every so often something will happen where that cold can be dislodged and dumped into the mid-latitudes leading to cold air outbreaks over the North America, Europe, or Asia. How does that happen? Periodically, you’ll get a warming event in the stratosphere that eventually works downward, first displacing or splitting the polar vortex and then leading to high latitude atmospheric blocking that warms the Arctic and sends cold south. This is what can unleash some of that more noteworthy cold air.

The process is really complicated and fairly often, stratospheric warming does not lead to significant polar vortex disruption. But almost every time there is a warming event, you now hear about it because of what I noted in the opening paragraph.

So what is happening now?

If you look at the forecast weather map today, you can see a pretty anti-winter look in the Eastern half of the country, with very mild air from Hudson Bay south to the Gulf. The West is stormy. Most of the cold is up near Alaska or Siberia and over Scandinavia.

Over the next 10 days or so, this pattern is going to change rather dramatically. The ridging in place from Hudson Bay to the Gulf will weaken. The pretty neutral pattern from Alaska through the Arctic to Greenland is going to block up and warm. This will allow cold to displace back southward into lower latitudes in North America. The real serious cold is probably going to go on the other side of the globe, dumping into Russia and portions of Central Asia. One way to proxy this is to look at the Arctic Oscillation (AO). In a nutshell, the AO is a barometer for high latitude blocking over the Arctic. It’s far more complicated than just using one index to determine the fate of the weather. But in situations like this, it can help.

What does it tell us? When the AO is positive, it generally indicates that the Arctic will be cold. It can be assumed most of the time that the polar vortex is sort of in place, in its home over the North Pole. When the AO turns negative, it tends to mean that something has happened in the Arctic that leads to milder conditions and a weaker polar vortex, allowing cold to meander away from the North Pole and toward the populous mid-latitudes. Notice on the chart above that back in mid-January, we had a negative AO, which led to the cold outbreak. Also notice that not every negative AO produces excessive cold! We had a pretty strong bout of negative Arctic Oscillation conditions back in early December, which coincided with Houston’s most recent 80 degree day. We did turn colder after that day, but not excessively so.

Anyway, the AO is forecast to go negative, strongly so around mid-February. This gets a lot of meteorologists’ attention, and justifiably so. It’s a strong signal for strong blocking in the polar region. And indeed, if you look at the Climate Prediction Center’s outlook for days 8 through 14, it shows colder than normal temps forecast over a broad portion of the Lower 48.

Now, this map is plenty cold for sure. But it’s also moderate confidence. In other words, we’re not super confident in major cold right now. This meteorologist would say we are moderately confident in moderate cold. Frankly, modeling has been a little underwhelming with respect to the cold in mid-February. Some of the modeling that picked up on the ferocity of the January cold early on is not exactly doing so now, though it is forecasting cold. So at this point at least, a repeat of a January 2024-like cold outbreak in Texas seems like a longshot. But it’s going to be cold, and no, we cannot rule out a another (modest) freeze before winter ends.

This setup may be more interesting for the Southeast, particularly with a lot of moisture getting pumped in from California again. If you could perhaps combine some of that moisture into a well-timed low pressure system in the Southeast with some meaningful cold air, we could see some wintry weather in the South or Mid-Atlantic somewhere through late month.

Summary: Dense fog this morning will give way to some clearing. Rain arrives tonight, heavy at times after midnight and early Saturday morning. Thunder and lightning are likely, and a couple storms could be strong to severe. After an inch or two of rain and some ponding, we’ll see much nicer weather Saturday afternoon, followed by a windy Sunday. Some cooler weather arrives early next week.

Also, we’re going through one of those phases like in December where we have had enough high clouds to occasionally allow for spectacular sunrises and sunsets.

You can always email us or message us photos on Instagram or Twitter or whatnot!

Today

We’ve got a generally nice, calm day ahead. There is some dense fog this morning, so through about 9 AM or so, you may need to contend with that. Tomball visibility is a quarter-mile as I write this, as is Conroe, Wharton, and Colorado County. So give yourself a minute or two extra getting out the door. Otherwise, we’ll see sun and clouds with highs in the low to mid-70s today and a bit of humidity. Clouds become a little more common later, and some showers may begin as early as sunset.

Tonight and Saturday

Look for rain to become a little more persistent or heavier after midnight tonight. Periods of rain and embedded thunderstorms will continue overnight into Saturday morning, and most of it will actually be done before Noon tomorrow. We may even see a return to sunshine tomorrow afternoon.

In terms of rain totals, most will see 1 to 2 inches on average. The Matagorda Bay and Corpus Christi areas will probably see less than that. But this will be another healthy rainmaker for most of the region. We don’t expect much in the way of severe weather right now, but a storm or two could become strong to severe early Saturday. The main issue would be strong winds briefly in those storms. We’ll probably have a fair bit of lightning and thunder though.

Low temps tonight will dip into the low-60s, with highs tomorrow in the 70s. Overall, your morning plans will be dicey tomorrow, but the afternoon looks perfectly fine we think.

Sunday and Monday

Both Sunday and Monday should see a good deal of sunshine, though a few extra clouds may pepper the sky Monday. The big thing you’ll notice are winds and cooler temperatures. Highs will be in the 60s on Sunday and lower-60s Monday, with lows in the 40s and 50s. So we take a step back cooler here. But the wind will be whipping a bit on Sunday. Look for west to northwest winds of 15 to 25 mph and gusts to 30 mph or a bit stronger. Monday should be calmer, though there will be lingering wind over the water.

Rest of next week

After a cool start to the week, we’ll warm back up later next week with temps back into the 70s by Wednesday or Thursday. Our next chance at rain probably arrives next Thursday or Friday. It does appear that a generally wet pattern is expected heading into the second week of the forecast.

Exactly what it means is TBD, as these are probabilistic maps, which say that the forecast leans above normal. But in general, it looks like next Friday or Saturday-ish will be our next decent chance at rain. We continue to get questions about mid-month cold chances. As of now, we don’t think anything significant will impact Texas, but we’ll keep watching.

Summary: We have one final round of rain showers to get through today, although this will be a mere drop in the bucket compared to what fell earlier this week. We then have an extended stretch of dry weather through probably next Thursday or Friday before rain chances re-enter the forecast. Temperatures will be fairly temperate, with a couple cooler days through the period.

Rainfall summary

For Houston, this will officially be at least our 8th wettest January on record. Bush Airport has picked up 8.28″ of rain this month so far. Hobby sits at 7.48″, making it the 6th wettest January. Galveston is at a more meager 5.20″ of rain officially at Scholes Airport, though a rain gauge near The Strand is up over 9 inches this month.

Many larger rivers remain in moderate to even major flood (West Fork of the San Jacinto & Trinity). The National Weather Service has an interactive map with gauges across the region that you can check out for more details.

Today

Watch for some dense fog around the area this morning which could slow you down a bit heading out the door. Otherwise, we will just see clouds through midday. Scattered to numerous showers should crop up this afternoon, after about 1 or 2 PM. The good news is that rain totals are expected to be less than a half-inch and probably closer to a quarter-inch in most cases. Thus, we do not anticipate any flooding concerns today. Showers will exit the area by about midnight or so tonight.

It will be a bit cooler today with highs in the mid-60s, after we hit 71 degrees yesterday officially.

Weekend

Saturday looks like a cooler sort of day with temperatures warming from the low to mid-50s into the upper-50s to low-60s and a good deal of cloud cover. I wouldn’t be shocked to see a few spotty (inconsequential) showers or some light rain for a brief time in spots, especially north and east of Houston. Otherwise, just mostly cloudy.

We dip into the 40s in most spots on Saturday night and Sunday morning before a very nice day Sunday, Sunshine and mid to upper-50s are on the menu.

Monday through Wednesday

Monday will be the coldest morning of this batch of days, with lows in the 30s over a good chunk of the area and around 40 in Houston proper. We’ll have another nice day Monday with sun, some high clouds, and highs in the lower half of the 60s.

Tuesday and Wednesday should see sunshine, although high clouds may spoil that at times. Remember early December, when we had all those spectacular sunsets and an almost permanent deck of cirrus clouds streaming by? We may be setting up in a similar sort of pattern again. Either way, expect highs in the mid-60s Tuesday and upper-60s Wednesday, with lows in the 40s.

Late next week

The pattern begins to change later next week, as another vigorous disturbance emerges out of the Pacific Ocean. This one should crash ashore in California, move through the desert, and emerge over the Southern Plains around next weekend.

The exact intensity, timing, and orientation of this upper level system will determine exactly how significant our rain chances will be. But there is good model agreement on something barging through here next weekend with a round of rain. Ahead of it, probably continued 60s, lows in the 40s and 50s, and perhaps some coastal sea fog.