Houston will come close to a freeze on Friday morning

The rains are over for now, but the cold weather is just beginning. Cold air pushing into the Houston region on Thursday will be amplified by gusty winds, especially along the coast. Already this morning, Galveston has recorded a gust of 46mph, while inland areas are generally seeing gusts in the 20s. In terms of temperatures, much of Houston could see record lows on Thursday night.

Thursday

As a deep layer of cold, dry air moves into Houston this morning we are already seeing clearing skies across the region. But despite ample sunshine, high temperatures Thursday will only get into the low- to mid-50s. As a result, this will probably be the coldest Halloween day since 1925. Winds should begin to die down late this afternoon or early evening, about the time when the sun goes down. Temperatures during trick-or-treating, will likely fall into the upper 40s, on their way down to the mid-30s overnight for much of the area. Will it freeze in Houston? Probably not as our relatively wet grounds should help moderate our temperatures just a bit. But it will be pretty close.

Friday

After a cold and frosty start—Houston’s record low for this date is 35 degrees, and we may tie or beat that—sunshine will help push Friday’s highs up to around 60 degrees. The absence of winds should help this feel quite a bit warmer than Thursday. Low temperatures Friday night, too, should be 5 to 10 degrees warmer than Thursday night.

Saturday and Sunday

Another weak front should help keep the weekend on the cool side, with high temperatures in the low- to mid-60s both days. With plenty of sunshine, these should be nice days for any outdoor work that needs to get done. Lows both nights will be in the 40s or 50s, depending on your distance from the coast.

Next week

We’ll see a warming trend through the middle of next week, with high temperatures nudging back into the mid- or even upper-70s, and along with the onshore flow we’ll see some returning rain chances. The big question is when the next front comes, and there is some division in the models as to whether that’s Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday. Hard to say for sure, but at this point it seems most likely next weekend will be somewhere in the 60s

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Sponsor message

We’ll see ghosts, princesses and monsters out trick-or-treating tonight, but one scary creature we never want to see at our doorsteps is the energy vampire. They suck electricity from electronics and appliances even when they’re not in use.

By making sure these items are completely turned off when not in use, you can decrease phantom electricity usage. Some items may surprise you, like phone and laptop chargers left plugged in. Other energy vampires include printers, cable boxes, game consoles and fans. Even simple changes, like unplugging these devices, can deliver spooktacular results over time.

Tips on how to strike the energy vampires from your home:

• Unplug electronics, devices and chargers that are no longer being used or are rarely used – especially those with the common large black box plugs.
• Plug electronics to a power strip so you can easily turn the power on and off.
• Power off your computer or put it in sleep mode.
• Disconnect mobile phones from chargers when they are fully charged and then unplug the phone chargers.
• Be sure to unplug devices during vacations or trips.

Additional information on your home’s energy usage can be found at Reliant’s site. 

Happy Halloween from Reliant!