Another cold front this weekend keeps Houston temperate

Good morning, and it’s a cool one across the region. Temperatures this morning ranged from the 30s north of Houston to the lower and middle 40s in the city to the low to mid-50s at the coast.

Friday morning temperatures range from the 30s north of Houston to the lower and mid-50s at the coast. (NOAA)

That cool weather will be departing later today and tonight — temporarily.

Today

We are already seeing broad onshore flow begin to resume at the coast, with low clouds moving into Galveston and southeast Harris Counties and humidity inching upward. That will be the trend today. Expect sunshine with some periods of clouds at times, perhaps becoming a bit more noticeable later today. We should manage the low-60s or a touch warmer in spots for highs.

Tonight & Saturday

Clouds become more established tonight, and we could see some light rain or drizzle in spots, in addition to some patchy fog late tonight at the coast. Temperatures won’t go very far tonight, and in fact they may rise out of the mid-50s toward daybreak across the region. We’ll end up in the upper-60s to low-70s tomorrow despite a good bit of cloud cover.

Our next cold front will approach the region late tomorrow. Expect showers to accompany it, but we are unlikely to see any sort of significant rain from this. It’s also entirely possible that your neighborhood sees no rain at all.

You may get rain later Saturday and Saturday night, but you won’t get much. (NOAA via Weather Bell)

The current official forecast calls for no one seeing more than a tenth of an inch of rain. We think that’s reasonable, as this front will mostly just serve to usher in cooler, drier air and gusty winds for Sunday. Speaking of…

Sunday

On Sunday, you’ll definitely know that a cold front has moved through. It will be breezy to windy and cooler. Sunday’s temperatures will warm from the low-50s in the morning to the mid-60s, give or take in the afternoon. Winds will be blustery out of the north at 15 to 20 mph inland, gusting to perhaps 25 mph or so over the water. The better news is that it looks bright and sunny for Sunday!

Monday & Tuesday

More sunshine is expected on Monday. It will be a cool morning, with lows in the 30s and 40s, similar to today and yesterday. Afternoon highs will get up into the 50s or lower 60s. Tuesday looks very similar to Monday with sunshine and temperatures about the same in the morning but perhaps a few degrees warmer in the afternoon.

Later next week

We should see a warming trend and return to onshore flow on Wednesday and Thursday. Clouds return, as do some fog and rain chances. But our next cold front is slated to arrive Friday, which should bring some widespread rain and then cooler, drier weather for the weekend. More on this one Monday!

Houston’s stretch of really dreary January weather ends soon

It’s been a gloomy few days here in the Houston area, between overcast skies or fog or showers or drizzle. The bad news is that it continues somewhat today, but the good news is that the end is coming for tomorrow. It won’t be a brilliant, totally sunny week, but it will be a lot nicer than what we’ve had recently.

Today

We have the clouds this morning, but there is definitely less fog around than in some other recent days. Tough to find any location, even at the coast, with less than 5 miles of visibility this morning.

Visibility observations this morning are basically fog-free everywhere. (NOAA)

So that’s a good start. There are some showers around this morning already, none of which are particularly heavy, but expect sort of a dreary start to the day, with low clouds and light rain, heavy drizzle, mist, or a shower. A narrow band of slightly heavier showers may try to roll in with the cold front itself, late this morning northwest of Houston and around midday in Houston itself. The front should get to the coast by late afternoon.

You’ll know when the front passes by a wind shift and about a 5 to 10 degree temperature drop. We’ll reach the low-70s north and west of Houston before the front and the mid to upper-70s south and east of Houston. So the change behind today’s won’t be too dramatic initially.

Much cooler morning low temperatures in the upper-40s to low or mid-50s are expected overnight. (Weather Bell)

Where you’ll really notice the change will be tonight, as temperatures drop into the upper-40s to mid-50s for low temperatures by Tuesday morning.

Tuesday

Tomorrow won’t be perfectly sunny, but it will surely be a bit nicer than it has been. Look for a mix of sun and high clouds tomorrow, with high temperatures pushing back close to 70 degrees or a touch warmer.

Wednesday

A second cold front, this one a bit stronger, will push across the region on Wednesday morning. It will probably be a dry front, however. Look for a breezy day, with gusts of 15 to 20 mph out of the north. It will be sunny, but there will be a good deal of high cloud cover likely around at times to dim the sun. This should keep us in the mid to upper-60s for highs, after starting the day in the low to mid-50s.

Thursday & Friday

Expect more high clouds on Thursday, along with some sunshine. Friday may see the high clouds disappear, and it will likely start off sunny before some lower clouds roll in later in the day as onshore flow returns. Low temperatures for Thursday and Friday morning will likely average in the low 40s, though it will probably be in the upper-30s north and maybe upper-40s southeast of the city along the coast. For the daytime, expect cool upper-50s to low-60s on Thursday, followed up by mid-60s on Friday.

Weekend

It’s a bit early to say too much about this coming weekend, but it appears somewhat similar to this past weekend, with a good deal of low clouds, perhaps some patchy fog, and at least some shower chances, albeit low ones right now. We may see a cold front swing through the area by Sunday morning or afternoon, however, which could clear us out a bit and yield a nicer Sunday. Temperatures will be warm, with 70s for highs and 50s or 60s for lows. We should be back in the 40s on Monday morning behind the front, however.

Gusty winds around the region today before a pleasant weekend

Good morning, and happy Friday. It’s a cool start to the day today, as we’re in the wake of a cold front that moved through last evening. We’ll have a round of gusty winds today before things settle down for the weekend.

Today & tonight

Today is starting off calm enough with clear skies, cool temperatures, and generally light winds. The clear skies and generally cool temperatures will stay with us today, with highs in the 50s. But the wind? That will begin to howl in just a few hours. We expect wind gusts of 25 to 35 mph area wide today, with some higher gusts possible in northern stretches of the region.

Wind gusts could exceed 30 to 35 mph in a few spots north of Houston later today. (NWS Houston)

A wind advisory is posted for late morning and early to mid-afternoon. With high winds and low humidity, it’s a higher than usual brush/grass fire danger day today. Relative humidity could drop below 20 percent at times, a very dry day.

Winds will quickly settle down around and just after sunset, and they should be back to relatively calm conditions tonight, with lows near freezing north and west of Houston.

Lighter winds and clear skies may allow temperatures to drop to near freezing north and west of Houston tonight, with mostly 30s elsewhere. (NOAA forecast via Weather Bell)

Look for 30s elsewhere, with near 40 at the coast, a chilly night.

Saturday through Monday

After today, fair, quiet weather will be the story through Monday. Look for sunny conditions with just a few clouds on Sunday and Monday. Temperatures will slowly warm through the period, topping off in the upper-50s on Saturday, low-60s on Sunday, and mid-60s on Monday. Morning lows will stay cool, with 30s to near 40° on Sunday morning and mostly 40s on Monday morning. Winds will stay light but could pick up a bit on Monday afternoon as onshore flow redevelops.

Tuesday and beyond

A pretty messy weather pattern is expected Tuesday through Thursday or even Friday before a cold front finally clears everything out. Onshore flow will transport really humid air back into the region Tuesday and Wednesday, likely leading to scattered showers. The problem in this period is that details around the forecast continue to fluctuate both in terms of how much rain we see and where it falls. We know that the potential will exist for heavy rain and at least some thunderstorms. But we don’t know if it’s more a story for our area, farther north toward Shreveport, LA, or for all of eastern Texas and western Louisiana. We will have a full update on this for you Sunday or (more likely) Monday.

Lovely weather for Houston to close out the week

Good morning! Matt here, in for Eric who is getting in a light jog this morning.

Good luck to him, as he runs the virtual Houston Marathon! Best of luck to all our readers that will be participating as well (and congratulations to those that have already wrapped it up). We’ve got some very nice weather yet to come.

Today and tonight

We should see ample sunshine through the day today, with just a little patchy fog in spots dissipating this morning. The cold front mentioned above will push through the area probably around late afternoon or early evening. I don’t think you’re going to notice much more than a wind shift and some clouds as it passes. Winds may get a little gusty in the wake of the front. Look for highs today in the 60s, possibly well into the 60s in spots.

Tonight sees clear skies and breezy conditions with a northerly wind gusting up to 20-25 mph at the coast.

Tomorrow morning will be another chilly one with 30s and 40s area-wide. (NOAA via Weather Bell)

Temperatures will again be chilly, with lows near 40 degrees or in the 30s north and west of Houston to mid-40s in the city and near the coast.

Friday through Sunday

Basically, the entire weekend looks sunny right now. There could be some lingering gusty winds on Friday, especially near the coast and Galveston Bay and a few high clouds on Sunday, but other than that, it will be blue and beautiful. Highs will range from the upper-50s to low-60s with lows in the 30s and 40s. About as nice as you could ask for in winter in Houston.

Monday and Tuesday

We would expect Monday to be an extension of the weekend with a good deal of sunshine. Temperature should increase somewhat, however, with highs in the mid-60s after morning lows in the 40s. Tuesday will see clouds begin to increase as we begin to get stronger onshore flow and warmer temperatures. Look for fog, clouds, haze, or showers and highs perhaps pushing 70 degrees after a morning in the 50s.

Midweek next week

Tuesday’s onshore flow and increasing clouds heralds our next cold front. Look for that to cross around Thursday, give or take a day. Ahead of the front: Scattered showers and thunderstorms, some perhaps heavy.

Rainfall expected through Thursday morning next week is 1 to 2 inches area-wide, with perhaps a little more after the period. (NOAA via Weather Bell)

The early indications point to about an inch or two of total rain from the showers and storms that will come ahead of and with Thursday’s front. But there’s a good deal of uncertainty on specifics in this timeframe, so watch for some changes as we get closer.