Houston to see its coldest night in 210 days before a warm-up begins

Good morning. The city of Houston’s temperature last dropped below 50 degrees on March 20 of this year, which is nearly seven months ago. Tonight, we’re going back as temperatures reach their nadir with this cool front, and much of the area drops into the upper 40s away from the coast. After this cold night we’re going to be on a warming trend through Friday, when highs should get back into the upper 80s. Rain chances are low to non-existent through the weekend.

Monday

With a persistent offshore flow, dry air continues to flow into Houston, and with clear skies tonight we should see ideal conditions for cooler temperatures. Look for highs today to top out at about 70 degrees, with northerly winds at about 10 mph, with gusts up to 20 mph. As winds slacken tonight, we should see lows in to mid- to upper-40s.

Tuesday

Look for more sunshine, with warmer conditions on Tuesday, as highs push into the mid-70s. The offshore winds we’ve experienced since Friday night will veer to come from the east and then the southeast, and this will start the process of warming us up. Lows on Tuesday night will drop into the low- to mid-50s.

Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday

The warming trend will continue, with daytime highs increasing to about 80 degrees on Wednesday, and then the mid- and upper-80s by the end of the work week. By Thursday night lows will only be falling into the mid-60s. A weak front is likely to arrive on Friday morning, but this one won’t modify temperatures too much, mostly bringing drier air. Since drier air warms more efficiently, this should allow daytime temperatures on Friday to be fairly warm before overnight lows drop into the low 60s.

Saturday and Sunday

The weekend forecast is dependent on the strength and duration of the front. Since it looks to be fairly weak and short-lived, I’m going to go with highs in the mid-80s or upper-80s and lows in the low 60s for the weekend. Basically, the slightly drier air means warm days and modestly cool nights. But there remains a fair amount of wiggle room in those temperatures. Skies should be partly to mostly sunny.

Next week

At this point most of next week is likely to see partly to mostly cloudy skies, fairly warm days in the 80s, nights in the 70s, and plenty of humidity. Rain chances also return by around Monday. This pattern should more or less hold until the following weekend—probably.