With only a slight reprieve this weekend, very hot summertime temperatures will continue for at least the next week across the Houston region. The big question is one of rain chances this weekend, with Sunday looking like it may offer our best bet to wet our drying soils.
Thursday
Today will be much like the previous days this week, with high temperatures reaching 100 degrees, sultry humidity, and only very light south winds offering scant relief. Outside of the morning hours, skies will be mostly to completely sunny. Overnight lows will be around 80 degrees. You know the drill because most of July has been the same—unending and unrelenting.
Friday
Conditions will be more or less the same on Friday, with a heat advisory necessarily in place.
Saturday and Sunday
By this weekend we may start to see some modest changes as the high pressure system that has been dominating our weather retreats to the west. High temperatures this weekend will still be in the upper 90s, with some locations still possibly hitting 100 degrees. But in the absence of a suffocating high, we may see a few disturbances rotate through the area, and produce some showers and thunderstorms.
Chances are probably only on the order of about 20 percent on Saturday, but may jump up to 40 or even 50 percent on Sunday. Most of the region is likely to receive on the order of one to three tenths of an inch of rainfall, but a few lucky areas may receive more. The most likely time for any storms to develop is during the afternoon hours, with chances fading during the evening hours.
Monday and Tuesday
Look for highs in the upper 90s, along with some rain chances continuing in the vicinity of 30 percent each day. Some (slight) additional relief will come as a bit of drier air works its way into the atmosphere. The effect of this will be to push wet bulb globe temperatures—a measurement of the overall misery of the heat—below dangerous levels into the middle of next week.
Remainder of next week
Rain chances probably go mostly away later next week as high pressure remains. High temperatures will remain in the vicinity of 100 degrees, but with slightly lower heat indices due to the aforementioned drier air. As for more substantial relief from this stifling pattern, I just don’t see too much on the horizon. It is not for the lack of looking.
With the same cut-and-paste forecast, I’ll admit that I’m here for the comments.
With all the heat concerns and lack of rain in the foreseeable future, at what point do we start talking about drought? We’re still good here, but the monitor already shows a big bullseye of D3/D4 drought centered on Boerne.
Shade, water, and fans are your friends.
It’s very possible this hell continues until September, and possibly October, since this is frequently normal August weather anyway. With all the people moving to Texas, I imagine more than a few are thinking they made a big mistake.
“With all the people moving to Texas” means a lot more concrete poured over the land and consequently a massive increase in the heat sink. This trend will never go away, it can and will only get worse.
and a lot more impervious area for the flooding problem as well.
For sure. It doesn’t help the way developers in Texas build neighborhoods either. In other states, they generally try to leave natural vegetation in place to at least to some degree. Here they clear cut and bulldoze the whole development area so there’s no shade and lots of concrete.
The two saplings planted in every yard won’t produce meaningful shade for about years and years.
Developers in TX, especially in Houston/Harris County are required to have on-site detention equal to their impervious runoff. the vast majority of these land plots I’m seeing developed recently are on farmers fields and require re-grading of the area to have proper drainage and keep the new houses from flooding readily so I’m not sure what to do about that, very few places are naturally graded for a properly built neighborhood or apartment complex.
Planting the correct trees would be better than what some of these contractors do. We have decades-old pines in front of our house… zero shade. We planted a cypress in our backyard about 5-8 years ago and it shades the entire back of the house and the back yard. It’s definitely choices made.
Jeff, you are going to hate that you’re right on this one I’m afraid. How’s this for a consolation. The GFS and Euro models both forecast a very active subtropical jet stream this autumn and winter. That means for our area is frequent cold fronts and cool rainy days. Also possibly an aggressive severe weather season for the entire south.
Our home weather stations will have something to do instead of overheat.
Question for our northern folk. If temps were running 5 degrees colder than “normal” in the winter in say Wisconsin, would there be this much crying up there?
Rinkos has a point. I think there’s a little mass hysteria afoot. The blog says it’ll get to 100 today but that’s at 4PM about. I just got back from my midday 4 mile run. Left at 92 deg and got back at 94 deg. On Monday one reader said they skipped the Katy Flatland because it was too hot. Nope. I participated and it was 80s and cloudy in the morning.
So don’t succumb to hysteria and don’t be sheep. You are Texans.
Throw as many numbers as you like at me but 1980, 1998, 2011, 2022 were just as hot. I was here.
Ok I feel better. Former New Englander but long time here.
I’ll be out for an organized fun run this Saturday, some of us still get up and deal with the heat. Worked in a (well-ventilated) garage for most of the day last Saturday without much issue. Just gotta drink a bunch of water and dress appropriately
Been here since 1988. Grew up here. This hot is longer and hotter than any of those years. This heat is ridiculous. 2011 was bad, but in my opinion, this year takes the cake. The only solace is that we entered the heat with with a lot more water in the ground so our trees aren’t dying yet, but if we don’t get rain soon, I do fear it will be 2011 all over again when it comes to trees.
It’s not “hysteria”. We’ve been existing in 110°F heat indices for the past 3+ weeks since the beginning of July. This is abnormal. A week or so isn’t uncommon, but for this length of time, it isn’t normal. I get that you want to downplay the notion of climate change most likely due to political inclinations, but the reality is that this heat wave is excessive thanks to the high pressure ridge that refuses to move. By the time it decides to move, it might be the second weekend of August.
Furthermore, your handwaving of concerns doesn’t account for the large amounts of people who have trouble acclimating to this type of heat due to health concerns. Try to be a bit more considerate?
I grew up mostly in Ohio and Michigan (not the “Mitchigan” part). Probably not. The rough parts were heavy snow, ice storms, and brief excursions down to minus 20 (and that’s not the wind chill). Also, the stress of not seeing the sun for weeks at a time. And if you did see the sun, you might be headed down to zero that night because an Alberta Clipper or Manitoba Mauler just blew through.
Also, our electrical grid and natural gas were never threatened, and water pipes in homes were good to well below zero. Here they break at 31.9 F because idiot homebuilders bring the water in through the side of the house.
Been in Houston for 64 years. Hate summers here with a passion. Intense heat, obscene humidity, and high pressure domes that seem to like parking over us for long periods of time dropping rain chances and elevating temps. Jeff, your comment about people recently moving here now feeling that they made a big mistake, I know some of them. They didn’t imagine just how bad summers here can be. Yes, a good bit of buyers remorse out there.
Hopefully we will have a crisp winter instead of the winters that are cold and humid. 45 degrees with humidity can be cold in a way that a dry 30 degrees isn’t.
But those dry winter days of 55 or 60 are glorious.
Agreed. One of the main reasons I want out of Houston as soon as I retire. Add in spending mid-August through mid-October worrying which hurricane in the Gulf is going to hit you. And of course the trivial stuff like pervasive poverty, high crime, and political corruption.
Is it possible to “blow up” the high pressure dome to abate its affects somewhat? I’m being a bit facetious here, but if it WAS possible??
I suggested multiple hydrogen bombs a couple of weeks ago and for some reason got no response.