In brief: Houston will see one more very hot and sunny day before rain chances return to the forecast. The best odds for rain come this weekend, but even then we don’t anticipate a total washout. Highs remain in the 90s throughout the forecast period, as is typical for this time of year.
Overall pattern
High pressure will hold sway for another day or two before giving way to increasing moisture levels from the Gulf. With the ridge breaking down, the Houston region will be more open to showers this weekend, although we don’t anticipate anything too calamitous. As we get later into August next week, a fairly typical pattern will set in whereby high pressure influences our weather, but there is still the possibility for some afternoon showers and thunderstorms due to the sea breeze.
Wednesday
The high temperature at Bush Intercontinental Airport hit 99 degrees on Tuesday, and we are likely to do the same today, and possibly push into triple digits across some parts of the area. A surge in air temperatures today will be supported by the influx of somewhat drier air from the west. It’s not clear how far this drier air will push into Houston, but we could see some rare dewpoints in the upper 50s today along and west of Interstate 45. It’s still going to be quite hot, but for areas away from the coast it should feel a little less humid. Skies will be sunny, with light westerly winds. Lows tonight will drop to around 80 degrees.
Thursday and Friday
The last two days of the work week will see more moisture streaming in from the Gulf, and this will start to elevate rain chances a bit, perhaps to 30 percent each day. Don’t get me wrong, these will be mostly sunny days, and any showers that develop will likely pass quickly. But the increased moisture should help to limit high temperatures to the upper 90s for most of the region.
Saturday and Sunday
The weekend will bring the highest chance of rain, likely around 50 percent for both days. The odds and accumulations of rain are likely to be higher the closer to the coast you are. For most of us, I expect rain totals in the 0.25 to 0.5 inch range. However, given the tropical nature of this rainfall we cannot rule out some stronger, isolated downpours that briefly flood low-lying streets. Both of these days should still bring partly sunny skies. Highs will depend on the extent of rain and cloud cover during the afternoon hours, but probably will be in the vicinity of the mid-90s with plenty of humidity.
Next week
The first full week of August will likely bring mostly sunny skies and highs in the mid- to upper-90s. Expect some isolated to scattered shower chances daily, but at this point it’s difficult to say more than this. Basically, August will do August things. Which in Houston means pain.
