A damp December weekend descends on Houston

It certainly has been awhile, but a damp and stormy weekend is on tap for Southeast Texas. Let’s break it down.

First off, one more hearty thank you to Harmony Strings for sponsoring this site this month!

Today & Saturday

We’ll be quiet for most of the morning today, but clouds will gradually thicken up overhead. Rain showers should begin to break out to our south and west by midday, spreading north and east through afternoon.

Short term HRRR model shows numerous showers developing across Texas today. Some will move into Houston later this afternoon and tonight. (Weather Bell)
Short term HRRR model shows numerous showers developing across Texas today. Some will move into Houston later this afternoon and tonight. (Weather Bell)

A patchwork of scattered showers should be strung out around Houston by the evening commute.

This means that the Christmas tree lighting forecast in Downtown Houston isn’t looking fantastic right now. That said, if the HRRR above is right, we may be able to get it in without too many issues. If you are planning to go, make sure to double check the city’s website or social media feeds.

It may be a bit damp at times for the tree lighting tonight in Downtown Houston

 

Periods of rain and perhaps thunderstorms will continue throughout the evening and into the overnight hours. We may see heavier rain along and north of I-10 toward morning. That may pivot toward Houston more tomorrow. Basically, the whole area will see rain, heavy at times, and thunderstorms at various points through the day Saturday.

A forecast caution here: Yes, it will be a stormy couple of days, but it probably will not rain in your neighborhood the whole time. This type of rain will come in fits and starts. Trying to time exactly when and where we see the heaviest rain is exceptionally difficult more than 12 hours in advance with storm systems like this.

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December’s monthly sponsor

A new month means a new sponsor for Space City Weather, and I’m pleased to announce that Harmony Strings will support the site in December.

(Harmony Strings)
(Harmony Strings)

Thanks to their generous support we can provide all of our weather content for free, and with minimal advertisement, for the entire month of December. Here’s a little bit more about their business:

Harmony Strings is a professional string quartet in Houston, and the recipient of 17 industry awards including TheKnot’s Hall of Fame, TheKnot’s Best of Weddings, & WeddingWire’s Couple’s Choice Awards. Our multi-award winning string quartet performs classical & contemporary music for corporate events, holiday parties, galas, & everything in between!  Although we enjoy each and every event (isn’t variety the spice of life?), our specialty and our passion is weddings!  We know that your wedding is more than just a special occasion.  It’s the day you will finally marry the person you love!!  We know how much this day means to you, and we are always delighted and honored to be a part of such a beautiful celebration.  Whether your wedding is a lavish affair or an intimate ceremony, you can count on Harmony Strings to perform the music you love.  We invite you to listen to 25 contemporary & classical recordings of our Quartet, Trio, & Duo on our website.  Our calendar quickly fills up months (sometimes years) in advance, so request a quote for your event today!

The advantage of the sponsorship model is that we are under no pressure to generate web traffic for the sake of web traffic—so there’s no hype, no click bait and no nonsense. All we’ll do is continue to make the best possible forecasts we can make.

Houston: From very, very dry to very, very wet in two days

Good morning. It’s chilly out this morning, and very dry. How dry? Atmospheric moisture levels (shown below) are barely 10 percent of normal levels. Enjoy the calmer weather because big changes are coming for this weekend.

Today

Expect a cool and sunny day, with light northerly winds. Highs in the upper 60s and lows Thursday night should see temperatures three to five degrees warmer than Wednesday night.

gfs_pwat_anom_houston_2
Precipitable water levels are only about 10 to 30 percent of normal levels on this dry Thursday morning. (Weather Bell)

Friday

Friday will bring about a change as winds shift to out of the east, and they’ll become gusty as moisture moves inland. At the same time a large upper-level low pressure system will approach Texas from the west, and these ingredients will set the stage for a wet—and potentially very wet—weekend. Friday itself should be mostly cloudy, with high temperatures in the mid-60s, and a chance of light to moderate rain during the afternoon and evening hours.

(Space City Weather is brought to you by Harmony Strings this month)

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Houston’s mild weather about to turn a little wild—colder, wetter and then colder still

Houston has had a pretty dull fall, with warmer than normal temperatures, little rainfall, and almost no severe weather. But now things appear to be getting a little more interesting, with a wet weekend on tap, and significantly colder weather likely next week.

Today

After the region set record high temperatures on Tuesday (84 degrees, breaking a record from 2006), a cold front finally moved through last night. Temperatures this morning have fallen to around 60 degrees for most of the area, but the dewpoint has fallen off a cliff—the relative humidity this time on Tuesday was 100 percent, this morning it is 39 percent. Under mostly sunny skies temperatures today should rise to nearly 70 degrees.

Thursday

After lows start off in the low 40s north of Houston, and in the mid-40s for central parts of the city, we’ll have another spectacular day with a high near 70 degrees under fully sunny skies.

Friday

Friday will start off just a few degrees warmer than Thursday. But winds should pick up from offshore, returning moisture and setting the stage for what should be a wet, cool and gray weekend. Some rain is possible on Friday and Friday night, although it should be of the light to moderate variety. Highs will be near 70 degrees.

This rainfall accumulation forecast from NOAA seems a little too aggressive for me. (Weather Bell)
This rainfall accumulation forecast from NOAA seems a little too aggressive for me. (Weather Bell)

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