Good morning. As expected, a squall line a storms rumbled through Houston early Wednesday morning. Some bowing segments of the line brought damaging winds and frequent lightning, knocking power out to about 160,000 residences and businesses. But it’s not just Houston—this impressive line of storms stretches from west of Austin all the way to the east of New Orleans.
The worst of the storms for the Houston metro area is now rapidly moving toward the coast and offshore. This will set the stage for a few days of sedate, pleasant weather before we warm up over the weekend.
Wednesday
Temperatures this morning are in the mid-60s, and we probably will warm up into the low 80s this afternoon as skies begin to clear out. Although the heaviest rains are heading toward the exits, some light rains are possible through the mid-morning hours before drier air moves in behind the cold front. We’ll see gusty northerly winds this morning, but they should begin to ease back a little bit this afternoon. All of this will set the stage for a cool and clear night, with low temperatures likely dropping into the upper 50s for most of the region except the coast.
Thursday
The last day of April will be splendid—sunny, with light winds, dry air, and highs of around 80 degrees. There won’t be much more weather like this for awhile, so soak it up. Lows Thursday night will be a couple of degrees warmer than Wednesday night.
Friday
As winds turn to come from the south or southwest, a warming pattern will begin. However, humidity levels on Friday should still remain fairly low, as highs pop up into the mid-80s with sunny skies.
Saturday and Sunday
Almost summer-like weather arrives this weekend as high pressure builds over the area. Expect highs near 90 degrees on Saturday, and likely in the low 90s on Sunday, with partly to mostly sunny skies and light winds. Nighttime temperatures will only fall into the low 70s except for areas well north and west of Houston. Winds should be moderate.
Next week
Most of next week looks the same, to be honest. Expect warm to hot days in the upper 80s to low 90s, partly to mostly sunny skies, and warm nights. We won’t shake out of this pattern until Wednesday, at the earliest, and maybe not before the weekend. The rain you received this morning will be the last for at least a week.
Weather Wednesday
Houston has been social distancing for more than a month now, and the kids are bouncing off the walls. Matt and I can’t do anything about that (sorry, we’ve got littles of our own to wrangle) but we can provide a bit of weather information and entertainment for families.
With the help of Reliant, we’re going to do a weekly live video on Facebook where we discuss recent weather, upcoming weather, and more importantly take your questions—about forecasts, weather 101, or whatever you like. Beginning today, join us there at 2pm CT on Wednesdays, for 10-15 minutes of weather goodness. You can submit questions below, or during the live event itself.
Does Houston have the weirdest weather on earth?
Yes, and also some of the worst (like July, August, and September).
Will your Facebook video be available for viewing after it airs, for those of us who can’t watch it live? Thanks for all you do!
I second this. I hope this will be available on other platforms too. Some of us prefer not to use Facebook for their questionable practices.
Looking out my fifth floor north-facing window (West Loop) just before 5 am, I saw a bright blue-green shaft of light flash. Three more flashes followed in succession but over a distance, west to east. A straight line wind, a small twister blowing or just circuits blowing? This occurred before any significant lightning or thunder.
Okay so it wasn’t just me seeing things. I experienced the same on the east side of Pearland
Probably transformers being blown by straight line winds, most of us saw 40-50 mph with few areas 70+mph gust. I was monitoring base velocity and did not see any circulations in our area and neither did NWS to my knowledge, so I don’t think it was a tornado.
Eric,
Can you find out why HGX weather radar was off-line from 2:14am to 7:18 AM this morning? Check their radar loop this morning, it’s useless for this morning’s batch of storms. Nice work NOAA.
Nailed it exactly! (Finally.. 😄
Yep – no surprises today! Thankful for the rain – we need it! Thanks guys.
Thanks for the rain (1.1″) and the free air conditioning this morning (all windows open!). Your bonus checks are in the mail 😉
With it being a fairly warm winter, will this have anything to do with whether we have an active hurricane season or not for our area? I understand weather prediction is like a hitter in baseball, if they are successful 30 percent of the time you are a good player. As the old saying goes, if you do not like the weather here, wait 15 minutes and it will change. But just curious to your best guess. I live down near Angleton and we were very grateful for the rain we got the last couple of days. Might help with the cracks in the ground out in the pastures and let the grass grow for the cows.
“if you do not like the weather here, wait 15 minutes and it will change” I first heard that saying in Ireland, then Canada, and since then several more places, never heard it in Houston though.
Houston should be: if you don’t like the weather, just wait five MONTHS it might be slightly less hot
My question is this: how does the lightning and/or wind compare to Harvey in the Texas City area? We never lost power during Harvey and have had it lost off and on all night this storm. I realize a lot has to do with the power company, just curious if there was a difference weather-wise.
Also, if you have time for a basic question, my 6yo would like you to explain how clouds form?
Wind and lightening during Harvey was minimal for the Houston area. Rain…that’s another story!
Clouds form when humid air rises into the cooler upper atmosphere and condenses into small water droplets. Same as when water condenses on the side of a glass containing cold water.
Here’s a question: is it safe to take a bath or shower during a thunderstorm? My wife thinks it is a myth, but I think that the pipes can transmit electrical energy into the shower or bathtub.
(On another topic, we got 1.16″ of rain at my house, a great thing, even though I just got my car washed.)
“They” say “April comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb”, or sometimes vice-versa. But if I remember correctly, both ends this month will be lamb-like.
Oops. That saying was about March, not April. As Emily Litella said many years ago, “Never mind.”