Houston faces a couple of wetter, and potentially stormy days before our weather clears out sometime on Saturday, and brings us what looks like a fairly nice May weekend. But first we’ve got to get through a round of storms this morning, for the northern half of the region, and then a stormy period on Friday night. We’re not anticipating anything too severe, but we could see some at-times strong thunderstorms.

Thursday

As of 6:15am CT, the northern part of Houston is seeing the remnant line of showers and thunderstorms from a large storm system that moved through North Texas on Wednesday night. This line is slowly weakening as it moves to the south-southeast this morning, but some part of it will likely push through The Woodlands and down at least into central Houston. Closer to the coast, a capping inversion will likely prevent widespread showers and thunderstorms. After this system works through this morning, we can expect a partly sunny day with highs in the mid-to upper-80s.

Friday through Saturday morning

We’ll see another wetter period on Friday through Saturday morning for the region. Most of the action should remain to the west and north of the Houston metro area through the daytime hours on Friday, but sometime that evening we should see a mass of storms move through the area roughly from west to east. This system is part of a weak cold front and an upper level disturbance. Timing is still hazy, but generally we’d expect the worst weather overnight for most of Houston, and probably lingering into Saturday morning for the coast and eastern parts of the region. Most modeling shows the system clearing the area by or before noon on Saturday, but we’re offering no guarantees. Generally, the area will probably see 0.5 to 1.5 inches of rain, but there may be higher localized totals, and we can’t rule out some hail and damaging winds.

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Good morning. Houston will remain in a muggy, partly cloudy, and somewhat rainy period through Saturday, but we have no major concerns. However, the same cannot be said today for northern Texas, particularly the I-20 corridor from Abilene through Dallas and Fort Worth. Severe storms could affect the Metroplex during the afternoon, and evening hours, with the distinct threat of large hail, heavy rainfall, and potentially tornadoes. Please take care if you’re traveling that way today or tonight.

Wednesday and Thursday

Back in Houston, conditions will be much more sedate. We’re going to continue under a pattern of a warmer southerly flow, with breezy winds from the Gulf bringing moisture into the area. Both Wednesday and Thursday should see some sunshine, which will allow highs to nudge up into the upper-80s for most areas, likely.

The bigger question is rainfall, and I think we’re going to see some light to moderate rain showers over the northern half of the area (think north of I-10), while southern areas remain pretty much dry. Overall inland parts of the region could see as much as one-half inch of rain through Thursday, but it should be nothing to write home about in terms of impacts. Nights will remain steamy, in the low 70s.

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As Houston continues to slide toward summer, we’re looking at a period of partly or mostly cloudy skies, on-and-off rainy, humid, and fairly warm weather during the next week or so. Nights will remain warm and muggy for the foreseeable future, with much of the region never falling below the 70s throughout the forecast period.

Tuesday

We may see a few brief, very scattered, light rain showers today—but for the most part skies will simply be cloudy. Despite the lack of sunshine, highs will generally get into the mid- to upper-80s on Tuesday, with temperatures a bit cooler near the coast due to the moderating influence of the Gulf waters. Southerly winds will be noticeable, gusting to perhaps 25 mph. Lows tonight will be in the 70s for all but very far inland areas.

Wednesday and Thursday

These should be a pair of partly to mostly cloudy days. A cold front is going to be moving through north Texas, but it’s going to stall before reaching the Houston area, and therefore any severe weather should remain to the northwest of the region (see the map from NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center above). As a result, Houston and its surrounding counties will see only a 30 or 40 percent chance of rain each day, with perhaps a few tenths of an inch of rain in terms of accumulation. Highs will remain in the mid- to upper-80s.

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It is difficult to quantify a “nice” Spring, but it sure seems as though the last couple of months have been quite pleasant in Houston, Texas. We’ve had a few storms, which is normal for spring, but mostly we’ve seen partly to mostly sunny weather, fairly dry air, and cool but not cold nights.

But now, the party’s over. I’m sorry to report that Spring, 2019, died this weekend. As recently as Sunday morning, lows were in the low- to mid-60s for much of the region, but starting this today we’re going to see a string of mornings in the 70s, with May and then June right around the corner. Spring was 75 days old.

Monday

After a lovely, sunny weekend, we’ll see the return of partly to mostly cloudy skies today, although there still should be enough sunshine to allow high temperatures to push up into the mid-80s. The bigger story will be the return of onshore winds, which may gust up to about 20 mph this afternoon from the south. With muggier air and mostly cloudy skies tonight, low temperatures on Tuesday morning will only fall into the low- to mid-70s for the region.

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