Originally published at: Healthy chance of showers and thunderstorms today, and then it will be hot and dry – Space City Weather
In brief: The Houston region will see its best conditions for rainfall for at least the next week, and probably longer, today as tropical moisture surges. After this high pressure clamps down and the region will experience some serious August heat.
High pressure is coming
Over the weekend, the region saw scattered showers and thunderstorms due to a weakness in between two high pressure systems. That ongoing weakness today, along with surging tropical moisture levels, is going to give us a day with fairly healthy rain chances for much of the Houston region. But soon, beginning Tuesday, high pressure over our region will begin to amplify. This will bring us one of those classic August ridges beneath which temperatures soar, skies are clear, and rain showers are nowhere to be found. This pattern is likely to persist into next week.
Monday
We are already seeing some scattered showers develop offshore this morning, and these should begin to move inland by 9 am to noon. Theses showers will progress into central areas a little bit later today. Not everyone is going to get rainfall, to be sure, and chances for areas north of Harris County are lower than for locations closer to the coast. Totals will generally be less than 1 inch, and my sense is that if your yard ends up with half an inch of rainfall you should count yourselves lucky. Rain chances subside by this evening.
In terms of temperatures, because we are going to see a few more clouds today, I think highs will generally max out in the low-90s for Houston, and possibly mid-90s for inland areas such as The Woodlands. Winds will be light, from the south, perhaps gusting a bit later this afternoon. Overnight lows may briefly fall into the upper 70s.
Tuesday
This day will see highs in the mid-90s, with mostly sunny skies. There is perhaps a 10 or 20 percent chance of showers as high pressure begins to build over the area. So probably not, but there is at least the slightest of chances.
Wednesday through the weekend
Highs will range from the lower 90s right along the coast to the upper-90s for central and inland portions of the Houston region. We cannot rule out some 100-degree readings. Rain chances will be near zero with sunny skies. If you have any outdoor plans, you can be confident in hot and sunny August weather complying. If you’re tired of the heat and humidity, well, it’s August my friends. It isn’t going anywhere.
Next week
This high-pressure dominated pattern will hold into the middle of next week. After that there’s some possibility of change, but it’s not something I’m willing to bet on at this point.
Atlantic tropics
We’ll have a few more words to say about this tomorrow, but we are starting to see some signs of the Atlantic waking up a little bit. Of particular note is a tropical wave in the eastern Atlantic, which appears increasingly likely to develop into a tropical storm. But at this point there are good reasons to believe it will not be a threat to the Gulf, and probably not any landmasses. We’ll see.
