We’ve seen a lot of comments from folks on the site and social media along the lines of, “Well, it always gets this hot in summer and always has and this is no different so why are you making a big deal of this?” It is true: Houston is hot in summer. From May through September, you can describe Houston as hot, humid, sultry, or whatever other colorful adjective you want to use. Some may say, the difference between 94 and 98 and 100 is difficult to perceive anyway, so what difference does it make?
Usually about twice per summer or so, the heat in Houston goes to what I call the next level, where it’s hot like always, but it just feels worse. This is the type of heat where your body can truly suffer if you don’t take it seriously. We’re in one of those periods right now, arguably one of the worst such periods in several summers. Heat index values yesterday were all over the place, including near 115° in spots around Houston and even near 120° in spots near Corpus Christi and Port Arthur. A more typical summer day may feel along the lines of 99 to 105° or so. So this has moved into the higher echelon of next level of heat. Hence, we are trying to convey that this is more serious than normal summer heat. And it will continue for awhile longer. Please take it seriously this holiday weekend, especially if you’ll be attending any of the Juneteenth celebrations in the area or outdoors in any capacity.
We have energy saving tips from our sponsor and partner Reliant just below the forecast. As the heat puts stress on the grid over the next several days, these energy saving tips will come in handy.
Friday & Saturday
All we can tell you about these two days is that they’re going to be miserably hot and humid. Expect heat index values of 110° to 115° or higher, with actual temperatures near 100° inland and in the 90s along the coast. A heat advisory is posted for the coast, while the rest of the region has an excessive heat warning. The last time the city of Houston had an excessive heat warning was in August of 2016. So, again, this speaks to both the rarity of heat of this magnitude, as well as the fact that it’s June not August.
Let’s not forget about nighttime. Low temperatures will struggle to get much below 80 degrees each night. This sort of compounding heat can take a toll, especially on the very young and elderly. If you’re headed to the Gulf for some relief, please also keep in mind that rip currents look a bit strong this weekend, so be aware of that if you jump in the water.
Sunday & Monday
Copy and paste Friday and Saturday’s forecast and tweak the temps by 1 or 2 degrees in either direction. More heat warnings and/or advisories are a guarantee.
Rest of next week
By later next week there’s some chance that we may exit this “max heat” type situation and get back to something just regular “abnormally hot.” So instead of heat index values of 110 to 115°, maybe we fall back to more like 105 to 110° or so. It’s a maybe, but at this point, we’ll take whatever good news we can get.
In terms of rain chances, they remain near zero until perhaps midweek or late week next week, when maybe we can bump them up to 10 or 20 percent on a good day.
A Message From Our Sponsor, Reliant
As Eric and Matt have warned us, the summer heat is here. With triple-digit temperatures forecasted for the coming week, Reliant is sharing helpful tips to stay cool while managing your energy usage.
- Setting your thermostat four degrees higher when you’re away from home for more than four hours can help reduce electricity usage.
- Raising the temperature of your home by even a few degrees also reduces energy consumption. Every degree of cooling below 78 degrees increases your energy use by 6-8%. While the suggested temperature for ideal energy use in the summer is 78, a comfortable temperature setting is a personal preference – just know every degree makes a difference.
- Rotate your ceiling fan counterclockwise for a wind chill effect. This can make the temperature in a room feel up to four degrees cooler, allowing you to be more comfortable and adjust your thermostat to save money. Don’t forget to turn off your fan when leaving the room.
- Use blinds or curtains to reduce solar heat gain by up to 50 percent. Direct sunlight can increase the demand on your A/C by as much as 30 percent.
- Check air filters monthly and replace as necessary. A clean air filter can keep your A/C running at peak condition.
- Avoid using heat-producing appliances like the clothes dryer, dishwasher, or oven during the hottest times of day. These appliances can cause your A/C to work harder to keep your home cool.
Find additional energy efficiency tips from Reliant by clicking here.
Hi… I have never understood exactly what the “feels like” heat index really means. Can you explain it and why it matters? I prefer to know the wet-bulb temperature. As a distance runner who runs in all weather conditions (with rare exceptions for truly dangerous heat), the wet bulb helps me figure out if I will get sufficient evaporative cooling to maintain a healthy body temperature on a run. What am I missing? Thanks!
Heat Index is a widely used “hype” metric. It goes in the upward direction to emphasize how hot it is. Wet Bulb right now is 79 degf. Temperature is 84 degf. Not as news worthy. Most don’t know life threatening consequences occur at 82+ degf wet bulb. The cooling by perspiration mechanism shuts down.
PS I will check wetbulb later today when the heat index gets to 115 for my own curiosity. All these metrics…. heat index, wet bulb, dew point can be calculated knowing ambient temperature and relative humidity. But dew point and wet bulb are both lower than the ambient temperature so just not as interesting for eyeball clicks.
Yea. Wet bulb incorporates temperature and moisture levels … along with both sunshine/cloud cover and wind that is missing with heat index calculations.
On the bright side, only 101 days until “Fall Day” plus or minus 10 days or so…
The morning seems a little ominous, given the forecast… here in Sugar Land, we have no wind; it’s almost perfectly calm out, and thick overcast. The clouds rolled in yesterday evening, and made the heat a little more tolerable.
It was cloudy and windy yesterday. It doesn’t feel very hot at all. I wonder if the excessive heat warning is just a scare tactic, because, the people in charge love to scare us. I mean, last spring and summer was unusually dry and hot, but no excessive heat warning. So far this spring has been wetter and cooler than normal, until about four days ago.
you’ve got to be trolling
Hwat
Do you actually live in, like, Chicago and you’ve just been commenting on the wrong city’s weather forecast site? That would make your comments make far more sense.
Do not rotate your ceiling fan backwards. For maximum cooling effect, use your ceiling fan or any fan to get maximum air flow at your body.
?????????
They said to rotate fans counter-clockwise. That would be the summer direction that pushes the air down instead of the Winter direction that pulls upwards
Like a high pressure system vs a low pressure system 🌬
https://www.gocomics.com/closetohome/2023/06/16?ct=v&cti=2112707
The proper term for today’s weather is the Devil’s Fart.
I still love the ‘face-melting’ description. That’s a new favorite 💓
Great job, guys 😀
I asked yesterday, but my question disappeared. What does this early heat portend for this summer?
“We’ve seen a lot of comments from folks on …social media…”.
I fail to understand why anyone pays any attention to whatever pops up on social media. Better still, stay away from it altogether, nothing intelligent or useful ever appears on any of the platforms. Space City Weather is of course, an information platform. 🙂
The main focus here is the lack of rain, these past three years have been so dry and then we get a huge chunk of rain in a couple of weeks to make up for it. I wish the forecasts were more focused on rain and lack of rain rather than heat.
2020 and 2021 had decent coverage of rainfall both in totals and frequency. It was last year 2022 that had the more persistent drought (before rains picked back up later July through August).
But, you do have a point: the problems of summer are mitigated (or even turn to enjoyment) so far there is ample rainfall.
Yeah, they’ve never written about the drought conditions over the past 3 years. And never posted monthly or even weekly drought condition maps over time.
Oh wait….
You know,as I stay in my home I close my mini blinds,raise my thermostat, wait until it is cooler to use appliances, but what about the young and elderly and disabled or homeless that do not have the comfort of A/C,and our pets.
Pet safety tips for heat –https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=FxibOdyO-VA.
Please mr. Musk we need cloud seeding