Good morning. If you like sunshine, and less humidity, be sure and step outside today to soak some of it up. As we’ll discuss in this post, the region faces several days of partly- to mostly- to completely cloudy weather before conditions truly clear out again. Clouds will come first, and then rain later this week, likely peaking in intensity and coverage on Saturday with a decent soaking for most of the region.

Wednesday

Conditions are clear and cool across Houston this morning, with temperatures ranging from the upper 40s near Conroe down to around 60 degrees right along the coast. These will likely be Houston’s coolest temperatures for the next 10 days as a warmer pattern begins to return later today with onshore winds. Still, this will be an exceptional spring day, with highs in the mid-70s and partly to mostly sunny skies. Low temperatures Wednesday night will be 5 to 10 degrees warmer than Tuesday night.

Thursday

The region’s pattern change really kicks in on Thursday as southerly winds get blowing, gusting up to 20 mph. We can expect partly to mostly cloudy skies, with highs in the upper 70s. Some light, scattered rain showers will be possible with the moisture return, but don’t expect anything heavy, or to last too long. Lows Thursday night will begin to feel more sticky, dropping only into the upper 60s.

See full post

For much of the region over the last month, it has been feast or famine when it comes to rainfall. Some areas northwest of downtown have received 3 or 4 inches of rainfall, whereas some parts of Clear Lake and points south toward Galveston have received less than one-quarter of an inch. The problem is not yet serious, but with warmer weather on the way it would be nice to have some rain.

Fortunately, that appears to be just what’s in the cards for the end of this week. But before we get to the rainfall, we’re going to have a couple of pleasant, spring-like days.

Tuesday

A front is moving into Houston this morning, with winds turning to the west-northwest. Partly to mostly cloudy skies this morning should give way to partly to mostly sunny skies this afternoon and highs generally in the upper 70s. The only downside of today’s weather will be at-times gusty winds, perhaps reaching 20 mph. The weather this evening and during the overnight hours looks splendid, with lows dropping into the mid-50s with partly cloudy skies and dying winds.

Wednesday

This will be another fine day, with at least partly sunny skies, and highs in the mid-70s. However the front will once again wash out pretty quickly, with winds returning from the southeast sometime on Wednesday. This will allow for clouds to begin to develop later in the day and during the overnight hours. Lows Wednesday night probably will only drop to around 60 degrees for most areas.

See full post

Good morning and welcome to the end of March. We don’t have the final temperatures yet for the month, but the average temperature through the first 29 days of this March is 71.1 degrees, which is 8.6 Fahrenheit degrees above normal.

• This ranks as the second warmest March on record in the city.
• The city’s records date back to 1892. Only March, 1907, finished warmer.
• During that March more than a century ago, the average temperature was 72.1 degrees.

Matt has done some research on what that unprecedented March was like in Houston, and he’s found some really interesting things. Matt will write a separate post on this for Wednesday, April 1. You’d be a fool not to read it.

Also, if you were wondering what the rest of “spring” looks like for Houston, the NOAA outlook for temperatures during April, May, and June is below:

Monday

Today will be, you guessed it, warm again. The weak front that moved offshore on Saturday pushed back onshore as a warm front Sunday. The combination of that and some nearby low pressure will push rain chances to around 50 percent today, but most of the rain should be in scattered, short-lived showers—any stronger thunderstorms probably will remain north of Highway 105. Overall accumulations should be slight except beneath a stray thunderstorm, with mostly cloudy skies and highs of around 80 degrees. Winds will be light, out of the south or southeast at about 10 mph.

Tuesday

A cool front should slide into the region during the overnight hours Monday, and this will make for a pleasant Tuesday. Expect clearing skies, winds out of the north at around 10 mph, and highs of around 80 degrees. Low temperatures Tuesday night should drop into the upper 50s.

See full post

Officially, we won’t have a heat wave in Houston. We “only” hit 88° at Bush Airport yesterday, after Wednesday’s 90 degree high. No matter: We are in the midst of one of the hottest stretches of weather this early in the year on record. If you look at the last 4 days in Houston, our average temperature has been a whopping 78.9°. The earliest we’ve ever had a 4 day stretch that warm prior to this year was April 7-10, 1999, when we averaged 79.4° for the four days.

We broke the previous record for earliest hottest 4 day stretch (1907) by a full degree. The heat continues for one more full day before a bit of a respite this weekend.

Today

Look for more of the same today. Any low clouds this morning should eventually give way to sunshine. We’ll have a steady south wind at 10 to 15 mph (Side note: The breeze yesterday afternoon was actually quite lovely, despite the abnormally warm weather). Expect highs in the upper-80s to perhaps near 90° in spots.

We expect another muggy night ahead tonight, with lows in the upper 60s to low-70s.

Saturday

Tomorrow will start much like every other day in recent memory. But we’ll have a twist via a cold front Saturday afternoon. Expect clouds and some sun with temperatures warming into the lower 80s by late Saturday morning. Thereafter, scattered showers and a few thunderstorms with heavier downpours should begin to move west to east across the area. Any severe weather should be off to the northeast and out of the Houston area. Rain-wise, it wouldn’t be shocking to see some places receive no rainfall with the front. Those would be mainly southwest of Houston. Other areas could see a few tenths of an inch or even more if any heavier storms develop.

Temperatures will drop only a couple degrees behind the front, into the 70s, as it moves across the area between about Noon and 5 PM.

See full post