Summer finally ends, winter definitively begins

Summer, which began March 13th with a high of 87 degrees and remained persistently alive through the sultry months of September and October, died on Thursday morning of winter-like causes. She was eight months old.

Today

It kind of feels like summer finally died, right? With the forceful arrive of a cold front early this morning, Houston has definitely moved into a winter-like pattern. Highs this morning in the mid-50s will slowly fall throughout the day, and gusty winds will blow all day. Harris, Fort Bend and Wharton counties, as well as those counties immediately along the coast, are under a wind advisory through 6pm CT with gusts up to 35mph possible.

Tonight Houston faces the possibility of its first freeze. Harris and inland counties are under a freeze warning tonight from midnight through 9am. A freeze is most likely for those north of a line from Katy to Spring, but please remember there are a lot of factors at work here. The potential for some clouds, and moist ground (which will retain some warmth) may mitigate against the possibility of a freeze for these areas. In any case, tonight will be the region’s coldest since last winter.

Friday

After a cold start, high temperatures on Friday will struggle to reach 50 degrees under clear skies. Expect another cold night with another freeze possible in areas that froze on Thursday night/Friday morning.

Saturday

Winds will shift to out of the east on Saturday, allowing a few clouds to form with some of these onshore winds. But conditions will still be quite cool, with highs in the upper 50s.

Sunday and Monday

With the return of some moisture and absence of higher pressure, the region could see some scattered rain showers on Sunday and Monday. These look to be very light rain, more of the gray, gloomy, and misty type than a moderate or heavy rain. But where rain develops it would be just enough of a nuisance to preclude some outdoor activities. Highs both days will be in the upper 60s to lower 70s, with overnight lows in the 50s. Monday looks more sunny than Sunday.

Tuesday and beyond

The forecast models diverge pretty widely for conditions in the middle of next week and beyond. The GFS now brings a large outbreak of much colder air deeper into the southern states next week, including Texas, which could spell really, really cold weather for the region. Other models, such as the European, largely cut off Texas from this colder flow. So confidence in the medium-range forecast is somewhat low.

Posted at 6:50am CT on Thursday by Eric