After heavy rains Tuesday comes fog today, with more uncertainty ahead

Storms on Tuesday afternoon and evening proved more intense than anticipated, with some areas near Rosenberg, West University Place, Pearland, Friendswood, and Clear Lake seeing 2 inches of rain or more, and Deer Park and La Porte seeing 3 to 4 inches of rain. Fortunately, this threat of heavier rain appears to have passed—although daily precipitation chances are likely to remain with us through Sunday. It’s a messy forecast, so let’s jump into it.

Rain accumulation on Tuesday and Tuesday night. (National Weather Service)

Wednesday

The main problem this morning is fog, as warm air in the 60s moves over cooler water. A dense fog advisory is in effect until 10am this morning so take some extra care for your commute, or trips around town. Today will be fairly warm, with highs in the mid-70s under mostly cloudy skies. We probably will see some scattered showers develop this afternoon, although I don’t expect them to be nearly so organized or as intense as those on Tuesday evening.

Rodeo forecast

Temperatures will still be in the low 70s at around 6pm today, and we cannot rule out some showers over the central Houston region. I’d put the chances of light rain near NRG Stadium at about 30 percent going into the show. Conditions will still be muggy after the concert, but rain chances should fall down to around 10 percent.

Thursday

The will-it or won’t-it make it cold front appears likely to stall somewhere over the Houston metro area on Thursday. Of this much, we can be sure: a cold front will push into the northern edges of the metro area on Thursday morning. After this, the most likely scenario is that the front stalls somewhere along Highway 59, or perhaps a bit closer to the coast. Your local temperature, humidity, and rain chances are all going to vary Thursday depending on how far the front makes it (for example, the range of possibilities for afternoon temperatures at Bush Intercontinental Airport in the European ensemble model range from the upper 50s to 75 degrees). So our official forecast is ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

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Widespread showers likely today, then warmer through Friday

It’s a cloudy, misty morning generally in the 50s across Houston this morning, and overall this will be a wet day. Most of the rest of the week, and the weekend, will also be gray although rain chances probably won’t be quite so high as today. If you’re wondering about seeing some sunshine, there’s a bit of hope for Thursday, but Friday is probably the day you’re looking for.

Tuesday

The combination of a warm front moving onshore, nearby low pressure, and increasing atmospheric moisture levels will lead to a day of widespread showers and perhaps a few thunderstorms. As we saw on Monday, there is a chance of seeing some small, likely pea-sized hail in the strongest thunderstorms. Most of the region will likely see 0.25 to 0.50 inches of rain as highs rise into the mid-60s under gray skies. Will it be humid? Oh yes, it will be humid.

Rodeo forecast

On Monday, we saw rain showers diminish as the gates opened at 6pm for NRG Stadium and the Houston’s rodeo. I’m not sure that will happen tonight. It does appear as though the rain will lift north and east of Houston this evening, away from the city, but it’s not clear whether that will happen by sunset, or a little bit after. We’ll therefore carry rain chances of about 40 percent going into the show, and 20 percent after.

Temperatures will be in the low 60s at 6pm, and largely unchanged later on. With dewpoints nearly the same, expect 100 percent humidity. By the way, at the end of today’s post, be sure and check out a special message from Reliant about it’s rodeo-related activities.

Wednesday

Rain chances will be lower on Wednesday, perhaps in the 20 to 30 percent range, as the atmosphere calms down a little bit. Temperatures will reach the 70s, as warmer air moves into the region from the south and southwest, and Wednesday night (mostly if not completely dry) will only fall into the 60s.

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Monday afternoon more active than anticipated

We knew rain and scattered storms were returning to Houston, but frankly we didn’t think they’d come this soon. However, a relatively localized feature, a kink in the atmosphere, is moving up the Texas coast today and it’s driving the development of some storms primarily to the south and southeast of Houston. A few areas are seeing pea and dime-sized hail as a result.

Radar as of 3:20pm CT Monday. (kktv.com)

The regional models we use to predict the evolution of these kinds of storms haven’t done a great job of handling their development today, but generally I think they’re going to wane by or before sunset.

The overall forecast remains the same through mid-week, with widespread showers late Monday night and Tuesday producing perhaps 0.25 to 0.5 inch of rain, and more scattered showers on Wednesday. Some additional hail will be possible with the stronger thunderstorms on Tuesday.

Mostly gray, and somewhat wet this week before a big cooldown

After a stunning Sunday, we’ll now see the return of some clouds today, and as early as tonight some healthy rain chances. Most of this week looks pretty gray, although there’s a chance of sunshine toward the Friday or Saturday period. Unfortunately, the forecast from Thursday on is fairly uncertain at this point.

Monday

Skies remain somewhat clear this morning for parts of Houston, and we’ll see at least partly sunny skies for most of today, as highs warm into the mid-60s across Houston. However, change will be on the way as the high pressure system overhead moves away, and winds begin to return from the east and southeast. With this returning moisture, a few scattered showers will be possible near the coast this afternoon and early evening.

Rodeo forecast

Every weekday for the next three weeks, we’re going to offer Rodeo outlooks for people going to the concert. (Tonight, I’ll be among them, as Mrs. Space City Weather is a big Kasey Musgraves fan.) We’ll see temperatures of about 60 degrees at 6pm, with partly to mostly cloudy skies, and 10mph easterly winds. We can’t entirely rule out rain chances, but they’re probably around 10 percent for central Houston. After the show, temperatures will still be in the upper 50s, but the chance of scattered showers will be better, probably closer to 30 percent. Any rain should be light.

Tuesday

This looks like a wet and gray day. Highs will get into the mid- to upper-60s, and the combination of warmer air, low pressure, and ample moisture should lead to on- and off-again (mostly) light to moderate rain showers. All told, accumulations for most should be well under one-half inch, but a some areas may see a bit more. We also can’t rule out a few pockets of hail. The healthy rain chances should persist into Tuesday night, when lows for most won’t fall below 60.

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