After Wednesday’s strong northerly winds, conditions have calmed down this morning. The lack of winds has helped temperatures fall down to near freezing in the city of Houston, and brought a light freeze to most outlying areas. Cold though it is, temperatures will bounce back pretty quickly by Friday, with 70s throughout the weekend.

Thursday

Not a whole lot to say about today, winds should remain light, and after a start around freezing high temperatures will generally warm into the upper 50s under full sunshine. Temperatures this evening for the BBQ Cook-Off will fall to around 50 just after sunset, and into the upper 40s later this evening. Overnight low temperatures should be about 5 to 10 degrees warmer than those on Wednesday night.

Friday

This should be an absolutely splendid day for the region. Skies again will be clear, with light westerly winds. We can probably expect high temperatures to crest at about 70 degrees, with low humidity. Does Houston’s weather get much more perfect than that? Probably not. Our only concern at this time is high tree pollen counts, and if you’re stuffy today it’s probably because Wednesday’s winds really spread the pollen around.

Saturday

This will be another nice day, with highs in the low 70s, and mostly sunny skies. We’ll see winds turn around to come from the south, however this won’t have too much of an effect on our weather until Saturday night. This will see the beginning of the end for our drier air. Lows Saturday night will only fall down to around 60, or just below.

See full post

What can be said about Tuesday’s weather? It was nigh perfect and will easily go down as one of the 10 nicest days of the year in Houston. The region will soon get back to pleasant weather, but we’re going to have to get through a cold, blustery day today, and a very chilly night before we do so.

Wednesday

Blustery is indeed a good word for this morning. During the hour before sunrise, airports at Hobby, Ellington, and Galveston all recorded wind gusts above 30mph as a cold, northerly air mass sinks into the region. This combination of winds, cold air, and partly cloudy skies will make for a cold day, with highs only topping out somewhere in the low- to mid-50s. Skies will begin to clear this evening, and as the sun sets winds should die down as well. This mix of clear skies and light winds will allow for ideal cooling conditions tonight, with inland areas likely seeing a light freeze.

Thursday

After a cool start, look for high temperatures to rebound into the upper 50s for most of the area on Thursday. With only light winds and full sunshine, this should not feel too cold, even though absolute temperatures likely will only be a few degrees warmer than on Wednesday. If you’re heading out to the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo BBQ Cook-Off, expect evening temperatures of around 50 degrees. Overnight lows will be 5 to 10 degrees warmer than Wednesday night—so comfortably above a freeze.

See full post

Skies are clearing out today, setting the stage for a clear and cool pattern. The primary concern we have this week is the potential for a light freeze on Thursday morning—aside from that it should be almost all sunshine. This includes weather for the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo BBQ Cook-Off, which may be a bit chilly, but will have no concerns with rains or winds.

Tuesday

Lows this morning are generally in the 50s, with some areas already seeing clear skies. Others soon will. Highs today will likely reach into the 70s—making for a perfectly pleasant day—before a stronger front pushes through the region this evening. The front will probably arrive in downtown Houston at around sunset, or shortly thereafter, and will be notable for its strong northwesterly winds. They could gust up to about 30mph during the overnight hours as temperatures drop into the 40s. We can’t entirely rule out some very light rain showers during the pre-dawn hours on Wednesday.

Wednesday

This will be a sunny, cold, and breezy day. Expect highs only to reach the mid-50s, and the day will feel quite cool with northerly winds gusting as high as 25mph. As winds die down late Wednesday night we will see ideal conditions for cold weather late Wednesday and early Thursday, when a light freeze is likely for most inland areas (see the map above).

See full post

Good morning. A line of showers and thunderstorms is moving through Houston this morning from west to east, and this should be the last rain before an exceptionally sunny week. Seriously, we should see a stretch of at least six sunny and mostly cool days—lovely late winter and early spring weather.

Before jumping too far into the forecast, however, I wanted to answer a question from a reader that I think others might find of interest. Lee Sharp writes to say that he and longtime girlfriend Aida Gonzalez are ready to tie the knot:

“We have this amazing backyard, and really want an outdoor reception. But Houston weather being what it is, and the advance lead times needed for a weeding… So, when is the best time of year for an outdoor event? Not being rained out is first priority, but also not having everyone die of heatstroke is important as well. So what do you think?”

The easy answer is not summer! So we can rule out the period of June through September due to heat and humidity. I’m going to take away December through February too, because while it doesn’t necessarily get all that cold in Houston, it can get quite chilly and blustery during the winter months. This leaves us with March, April, May, and October and November. Of those five months, March (3.20 inches) and April (3.25 inches) have historically the lowest annual rainfall totals—more than one inch below the other contending months. Late March actually has the lowest daily chance of precipitation of any time of year, 21 percent, compared to 40 percent in mid-June. The chance of rain is even lower during the evening hours, falling below 4 percent. Finally, April and May are subject to spring storms, and October and November are subject to stronger storms and tornadoes as well.

All of this leaves the obvious conclusion that March is the “safest” month to plan an outdoor wedding in Houston, although there really is no “safe” time. It is historically the driest month, with a generally mild climate (average high 72.4 degrees), and if you’re having a backyard wedding I imagine flowers and gardens and trees are starting to bloom nicely later in the month. So to pin things down even further, the best time for outdoor weddings in Houston is the last two weeks of March, during the afternoon or evening hours.

Monday

A line of showers and thunderstorms should move southeast across the area and offshore by around noon today. Most parts of Houston will see less than one-half inch of rain but a few stronger storms could generate isolated areas of 1 inch of rainfall or more. High temperatures today will reach the mid-70s under mostly cloudy skies. A weak cool front will sag into the area this evening, helping to drop temperatures to around 50 degrees Monday night under mostly cloudy skies.

See full post