Steve Earle has long been one of my favorite music artists. He grew up in San Antonio and seemed to understand a little bit about the ways of Texas rainfall. In particular, I often recall his song “The Rain Came Down,” released in 1987, when I think about Houston’s penchant for either flooding or being in a drought during the summer months. The song itself is not about weather, but there’s this one line that just so perfectly captures my feeling about Houston summers:
And the rain came down
It’ll wash you away and there ain’t never enough
For a five year period from 2015 to 2020, it washed us away. Increasingly, this year, there ain’t ever enough. Take a look at this rainfall graphic for Hobby Airport, which shows the region receiving less than half of its normal rainfall for 2022. It’s that way for much of the region, especially for areas along and south of Interstate 10. Unfortunately, while we have a chance of rain the next two days, there continues to be little sign of the overall pattern changing.
Thursday
High pressure continues to dominate our weather, leading to continued high temperatures in the upper 90s for much of the region on Thursday. The difference today and Friday is that there will be more atmospheric moisture to work with, so it is possible the sea breeze will generate some pop-up showers and thunderstorms during the afternoon hours. Your chances today are about 20 percent, so I wish you luck. Winds will be light, out of the southeast, and you know the overnight is going to be sticky humid, don’t you?
Friday
As moisture levels peak, rain chances are probably best on Friday, reaching 25 or 30 percent. Otherwise expect more mostly sunny skies with highs in the upper 90s.
Saturday and Sunday
The weekend will be downright hot, with 100-degree readings possible on Saturday and the Sunday Juneteenth holiday. Rain chances don’t entirely go away, but they’re probably hovering at around 10 percent with mostly sunny skies.
Next week
I’m afraid that, for now, there’s no reason not to expect next week to be hot, mostly sunny, and mostly devoid of rainfall.
So while not as bad as 2011, we are getting pretty close at this point. From what I can tell, we were probably around 8-9 inches of rain through June that year. Doesnt look like we will be getting above 12 this year unless something changes in the last 3-4 days of the month.
Seeing the words “downright hot” for the weekend forecast from Eric made me sad. I’m not too big to admit this.
All of this early and sustained heat has sapped my enthusiasm for doing my pre-dawn workout, which was designed to counter said heat. But, the heat has clearly won. Blerg.
Sunday is Father’s Day, not just Juneteenth!
Thanks for the song-listened and liked so putting it in a playlist titled Texas Weather. Now find some songs about drought, flooding, heat, humidity, hail and hurricanes.
“Texas Flood,” “Couldn’t Stand the Weather” – Stevie Ray Vaughan
“Not A Drop of Rain” – Robert Earl Keen
“Six Year Drought” – James McMurtry
“A Tornado Warning” – Turnpike Troubadours (Oklahoma, but close enough)
“Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain” – Willie Nelson
“Storms Never Last” – Waylon Jennings
“None but the Rain” – Townes Van Zandt
And don’t forget, ” It’s Raining Men” by the Weather Girls! 🤣
Just Grateful to be Alive !!
You got that. After Harvey, in 2018, we got 2 new neighbors. One on each side. We have had such severe flooding in the past, that they have no idea. One neighbor, the younger couple understand. The older couple think they know everything and that it will never happen again. Little do they know…And when it does happen, they are going to be in fir a rude awakening.
Well that was a random thought
Love the upgraded app. Put on both my phones. Thanks.
Ive enjoyed your reports for a long time. Thank you. Is there a website that gives the density levels from the Saharan Dust Plumes in Harris county? I have health conditions that would benefit from that info on a day to day basis. I and many others in my neighbor would like to plan around the densest onsets. sincerely a Westbury/Braeswood resident.
sadly i dont think there is a specific tracker for that, there are websites for the air currents in the atlantic but that won’t necessarily help you. i think your best option is to watch the news when they’re talking about the weather since im pretty sure they give a tip on if the dust is gonna be bad that day