Houston’s wobbly warm winter continues

This winter has been one warm but wobbly roller coaster ride. We’ve had both the coldest weather in a few years and the most persistent warm weather in a number of years. In fact, Wednesday and Thursday represent the first time since 2002 and only the 16th time on record that Houston has officially recorded two consecutive days of 80° or warmer in January. We’ve hit 80° a lot of times in January, but usually not for more than a day. After last weekend’s cold and now with this warm weather, some are probably wondering if winter is over. Doubtful. Read on.

Today and Saturday

We have a few showers around this morning, especially north of Houston.

 

As the day goes on, don’t be shocked if you see a shower or sprinkle or two around in your travels.

We will continue with a very warm pattern the next few days. Though it probably won’t hit 80 again today and tomorrow, it will come close. We’ll see mid to upper 70s today and mid 70s tomorrow. Both days will feature partly to mostly cloudy skies. The slight chance of a stray shower or some sprinkles continues Saturday also. I do expect ongoing fog near the coast to be pretty persistent through the period.

For the Texans up in Foxborough on Saturday evening, weather shouldn’t be a huge factor, though it will be quite cold. Kickoff temps will be in the mid 20s, falling into the low 20s. Winds should thankfully be light.

(Space City Weather is sponsored by Westbury Christian School for this month)

Sunday

I wish I had better news for the Houston Marathon, but unfortunately the forecast Eric’s been providing all week looks mostly unchanged. Some sprinkles or light rain will certainly be possible during the race, but anything severely meddling for running would hold off until late Sunday or Monday it appears. Temperatures are not pretty, rising through the mid 60s in the early morning and into the upper 60s or near 70° by late morning.

 

For those of you not running, Sunday will be another mild to warm day with a slight shower chance.

Next Week

The big story with next week’s weather is going to be the early week cold front that Eric’s been discussing this week. The timing of the front now looks to be pushed to Monday night or Tuesday morning. There’s a high degree of uncertainty on exactly how this thing shakes out still, but the general premise looks laid out. Showers and storms become more widespread north & west of Houston on Monday. As the front crawls through Houston Monday night and Tuesday, rain and storms will become more widespread in and around the city. Storms should shift east and conditions should slowly improve Tuesday night and Wednesday.

 

We could see one to three inches of rainfall over the next week or so. That being said, with continued uncertainty on specifics, there is the potential for more (or less) rain in parts of the region early next week. Fronts in Texas rarely ever distribute rainfall equally across the region, so look for likely changes to the map above as we get closer.

Temperatures will cool off behind the front, but not in a “wow, that’s cold” fashion. It will be somewhat refreshing but probably not much better than that (50s, maybe some 40s for lows). There should be a gradual transition to colder temperatures after next week however for Texas, so stay tuned, as I don’t think we’re quite done with winter just yet.

Posted at 6:45 AM CT Friday by Matt