Well, the break was nice while it lasted. Hope everyone got to enjoy yesterday’s mid to upper-70s and sunshine. Today starts another transition.

Today and Friday

We’re starting with fog or low clouds across parts of the area this AM. Low clouds seem more common than fog at the moment until you get to Louisiana. But we’ll start today with a mix of sun and some of these low clouds. A nice, sunny start is in the cards north and west of the city.

There could be a sprinkle or shower around as well, but it won’t be anything serious. Temperatures will top off in the mid or upper 70s once more this afternoon. Cloud cover may cap how warm we get in spots though. Onshore flow is back in style, and you’ll feel it today. Expect humidity to trend upward through the day with dewpoints climbing out of the 50s and into the mid or upper-60s by evening. That means dense fog will once again be a possibility tonight, though a bit of a breeze may allow the fog to be less prevalent than we saw earlier this week.

Temperatures will only drop off into the mid or upper-60s tonight, or about 20 to 25 degrees above normal for this time of year. After a warm start, Friday looks like a mix of clouds, fog, and a slight chance of rain showers. Expect temps to hit the mid or upper-70s once more. We could do 80° with just a little bit of sunshine. The chance of rain will increase as we get closer to evening. Expect a period of steady rain or showers later Friday night into Saturday morning. There could be a thunderstorm thrown in, but overall no serious weather is expected with this front.

Saturday

Behind Friday night’s front, expect clouds and showers to linger early Saturday. Clouds could clear out from northwest to southeast on Saturday afternoon. Temperatures will be notably cooler. Expect the morning to start with upper-40s or low-50s only warming into the upper-50s to perhaps around 60° Saturday afternoon.

(Space City Weather is brought to you this month by the Law Office of Murray Newman)

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The fog lifted and temperatures exploded yesterday afternoon. Houston managed to hit 79° officially, just a little shy of the record of 81° set back in 2012. This is our fifth day above 75° so far this month. We did eight of them last December, but most came in the final 10 days of the month. We should add at least one or two more warm days to the record this week before a pretty significant dose of winter cold brings us back to reality.

Today

Spectacular. We try not to editorialize the weather too much, but it’s tough to argue against today’s weather by almost any objective metric. I expect today to be a chamber of commerce special, with ample sunshine and just a few high clouds. Temperatures again should reach for the upper-70s. Dewpoints today will be 15 to 20 degrees lower than yesterday meaning drier air is in place. If we hit 79° again this afternoon, it will feel a whole lot nicer than the 79° we hit yesterday.

Thursday through Saturday morning

Our foray into near-ideal weather will end abruptly on Thursday. We could start the day with areas of fog back in the picture. If we don’t, they’ll return with force Thursday night I think. Humidity should skyrocket on Thursday as onshore flow returns. It might be cool and damp Thursday morning, but it will finish downright humid. There could be some showers around on Thursday, but I don’t really foresee anything too substantial and rainfall accumulations should be minor.

Temperatures will start Thursday in the mid-50s and warm into the mid or upper-70s on Thursday afternoon. We may not see temperatures drop very far on Thursday night. The best we’ll do is probably around 65-70° in much of the area, with some places perhaps not dropping below 70° Friday morning. Fog and some isolated showers will play games with temperatures on Friday, leading to perhaps mid-70s. With enough sunshine 80° can’t be ruled out however.

Our next cold front will approach Friday night — or Saturday morning. The timing has slowed down by at least six hours since yesterday and it now appears we won’t see much rain til after midnight Friday night into Saturday morning.

We could have some thunderstorms with the front as it passes also, but as of now severe weather is unlikely. Behind the front, somewhat cooler temperatures will pour into the region.

(Space City Weather is brought to you this month by the Law Office of Murray Newman)

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A dreary start to the week will continue today with a number of things to watch for in the region. Let’s get to it.

Today & tonight

Two issues this morning: Fog and rain. Starting with visibility, we’ve got Dense Fog Advisories up for the entire region. Visibility is restricted just about everywhere in Southeast Texas, so give yourself a few extra minutes this morning. Fog will be most persistent near the coast, so if you’re traveling south on I-45 or east on I-10 this morning, you should expect a much slower than usual go of things.

In addition to the fog, we’re also watching rain. Most of the heavier and steadier rain is well north of Houston this morning. If you live in The Woodlands or Conroe or north and west of Houston toward Sealy or Hempstead, you’re seeing occasional rains this morning. Those will probably lift off to the north through the morning.

The rest of today will feature steady to perhaps heavy rainfall almost totally out of the Houston area. This would be most likely north of a Brenham-Huntsville-Lufkin line. In and around Houston itself, we could see a sporadic shower or a thunderstorm. After the fog slowly dissipates this morning (and in places, it may linger into early afternoon), it should be mostly dry. Expect temperatures to reach the mid-70s this afternoon.

Tonight is when we’ll need to pay attention for some quick moving thunderstorms. A cold front should sweep through between roughly 9 PM and 2 AM. It will bring a broken, thin line of storms, which means it’s possible that not everyone sees rain or thunder. That said, parameters over Southeast Texas will be favorable for some of the storms embedded in that line to be strong to severe. A few places may see some gusty winds, and while we can’t entirely rule out a stray storm capable of producing a tornado, that would be most likely well northeast of Houston into the Piney Woods I think.

Behind the front, westerly winds take control, and much drier and slightly cooler air will arrive overnight.

Wednesday

This is the pick of the week. Perhaps it’s the pick of the next few weeks, actually. I mean, it looks stunning. Wednesday should be partly to mostly sunny, not too humid, and quite warm. Expect temperatures to max out in the middle or upper-70s. This is less of a Christmas spirit type day and more of a “this is why we live in Houston” type day. Hope you’re able to enjoy it a bit.

(Space City Weather is brought to you this month by the Law Office of Murray Newman)

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