For most areas of Houston the first freeze of the season arrived this morning, including a mark of 30 degrees at Bush Intercontinental Airport. This official “first freeze” of the season comes nearly nearly three weeks late for the city’s official weather station.
The following map shows temperatures across the region as of 7am CT, which range from the low 20s near College Station to upper 30s immediately along the coast. With winds still in the 10 to 15 mph range this morning, wind chill temperatures across most of Houston are in the teens to low 20s—very cold.
Temperatures at 7am CT on Monday morning. (National Weather Service)
As anticipated, it’s warm and breezy across Houston today with high temperatures reaching about 80 degrees as of noon. Brisk, southerly winds are gusting in from the south at up to 30 mph along the coast. Change, of course, is coming soon. We’ve been talking about a strong cold front arriving on Saturday night, and it as strong—if not stronger—than advertised.
The graphic below shows the swing in wind chill temperatures before, along and behind the front as of 11am CT in Oklahoma this morning. This represents a 90-degree swing in temperatures from the Oklahoma Panhandle to the southeastern corner of the state.
Wind chill temperatures in Oklahoma on Saturday morning. (Sam Lillo/Twitter)
If you’re suffering from weather whiplash in the Houston area, I can’t say I blame you. It’s been a rocky month so far, with a lot of big swings in temperature.
Official temperature readings at IAH have been full of turbulence.
We’re back on the way up today, charting a course that will translate into a wild swing in temperature Sunday.
Today & Saturday
The changes are already underway, as we have begun to slowly pump in humidity off the Gulf this morning. Expect a lot of cloud cover today, and don’t be shocked if you see a few raindrops also in the form of light rain, showers, or drizzle. We’ll peak in the upper 60s to low 70s this afternoon, and as we go into tonight, temperatures may hold steady or continue to slowly rise. In fact into tomorrow, it still looks as though we could push 80°, which would tie the record high for the date set in 1908, 1984, and 1990. December’s all-time record of 85° set on 12/3/1995 should be safe. That said, some model guidance is suggesting we could hit as warm as 83-84° tomorrow; summer-lite for sure.
Saturday’s weather should feature a lot of clouds and a chance for a few showers here or there. The other issue Saturday, especially in the morning and evening, will be dense fog along the coast and bays.
Good morning. Temperatures are quite a bit cooler, with much of the region having fallen to around 50 degrees, or lower. We’ll warm quickly, but a much stronger front looms Saturday night, with a freeze possible in Houston Monday morning as winter returns.
Today
As drier air continues to filter into the Houston region, we should see clearing skies today and cool temperatures. Expect highs generally in the upper 50s with moderate northerly winds, and another cool tonight with temperatures again falling to the upper 40s for inland areas, and lower 50s closer to the coast.
Friday and Saturday
The warmth returns with vengeance. Winds will gradually shift to the east and then from the south beginning Friday morning, and this onshore flow will push temperatures higher quickly. Under mostly cloudy skies look for highs in the mid-70s on Friday, with overnight lows in the upper 60s for inland areas and (unbelievably) lower 70s for coastal areas. This will probably make for cloudy conditions on Saturday morning.
This depiction for winds and temperatures in the lower level of the atmosphere on Saturday at noon is helpful. It shows the very strong southerly winds and warm air advection from Mexico and Texas into the southern United States. Meanwhile, a front advances. (Weather Bell)
