It’s August, and you should know the drill by now

Welcome to August. You should know the drill by now, Houston. There are basically two weather patterns for this month—high pressure and suffocating heat, or a lack of high pressure and the threat of heavy, tropical rainfall. For the first 10 days of the month, at least, we’re going to lean more toward the former pattern.

Thursday

Houston lies on the periphery of a high pressure system centered mostly over northern Texas and Oklahoma, and this will continue to allow for the development of mostly coastal showers again later today. Rain chances are about 10 percent on the north side of Interstate 10, and perhaps 30 percent closer to the coast. Storms that do develop should not persist for all that long. Skies will be partly to mostly sunny today, with highs in the mid-90s.

West Texas will feel the heat of a high pressure on Friday. (Pivotal Weather)

Friday

Another day like Thursday, although rain chances probably will back off such that almost the entire area will be dry, with highs in the mid-90s and mostly sunny skies. Winds will remain calm to very light, only a few miles per hour out of the east or southeast. The lack of wind will make conditions feel even warmer than they are.

Saturday and Sunday

High pressure doesn’t quite take control of this weekend’s weather like we anticipated, so we’re going to see some slight rain chances both days, probably 20 to 30 percent. Any rain should not last too long, and overall accumulations for most of the area will probably be on the order of one or two tenths of an inch of rain. Both days will be partly cloudy, with highs in the low- to mid-90s depending on the extent of cloud cover where you live.

Next week

This pattern of slight to moderate rain chances, partly driven by the sea breeze during the afternoon hours, will persist into Monday or Tuesday of next week. After that, however, the most likely scenario is building high pressure that is typical in August. If that happens, we’re headed toward the upper 90s, and long, hot days.

If you’re in Texas, and you’re worrying about this system, you shouldn’t be. (National Hurricane Center)

Tropics

Matt wrote a fine rundown of the situation Wednesday. A system in the deep tropics is well on its way to becoming Tropical Storm Chantal, but we’re pretty confident that it is not coming to the Gulf of Mexico. So for now, we have no concerns in Texas or Louisiana.

AC Giveaway

We have our first winner! The winner of round one of Reliant’s AC giveaway—Farrah Gauge—is thrilled. She told us: “What an incredible gift! Our current A/C is 18 years old and definitely on its way out so this could not have been better timing. You have gained a lifelong customer and advocate. Thank you Reliant!”

As a reminder, you have 10 more days to enter for a second chance to win.

6 thoughts on “It’s August, and you should know the drill by now”

  1. Thanks guys. Our dog days started in July. All kidding aside we are in dire need of rain. So…if one of these thunderstorms wants to meander up to NE Harris and Waller county…we’d greatly appreciate it

  2. Yesterday 2nd day in a row for evening wind, thunder, and lightning…. but not a drop of rain in my part of Katy.

    It’s apparent that my car wash routine no longer brings the rain. I guess I’ll have to bust out my buckskin, drum, and feathers for a dance.

    • yeah, there’s definitely some kind of invisible force field that keeps the rain out of Katy.

      I watch the radar as the storms move in and they ether shift direction or peter out completely as the get here. Pretty frustrating!

  3. I have noticed the “invisible force field” also here inside the loop. Could this be the “heat island” effect? I always wonder if having more green spaces, planting green roofs and decreasing our use of asphalt surfaces would cool the city.

  4. For the AC contest, if you entered for the first round do you need to enter again for the second round?

    This statement makes it seem as if one entry covers the whole contest period.
    “Enter the Reliant Summer AC Sweepstakes between June 10 and August 13 for your chance to win.”

    • Hi StayingCool,

      Everyone who previously entered is still eligible to win this next round! Good luck!

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