Houston's weather to slowly transition away from sizzling September heat

Space City Weather
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Originally published at: Houston’s weather to slowly transition away from sizzling September heat – Space City Weather

In brief: We recap Tuesday’s torrid temperatures, where parts of Houston hit the century mark and talk about how this late September fling with sizzling temperatures should soon start to wane. Next week things start to get even more interesting.

A September to not remember

Houston’s high temperature on Tuesday hit 99 degrees—I mean come on already—at Bush Intercontinental Airport. This is just a single, solitary degree short of the all-time record high for the day. We are going to have one more day today in the upper 90s with high humidity, and we will surely give the record high for September 23 (97 degrees) a run for its money. At a time when high temperatures normally start to drift downward to 90 degrees, or even below, we have remained consistently in the mid- to upper-90s. Will summer ever go?

The answer is yes, albeit slowly. We are going to get a weak, backdoor front on Thursday. This will help with humidity a little bit. Then, I’m reasonably confident that we’re going to see another front during the middle of next week, although it remains to be determined in terms of how strong it will be. Regardless I do think that we are just about done with this relentless pattern of daily highs in the upper 90s and lows in the upper 70s.

Wednesday

But not today. With high pressure still in place, expect a sunny day with highs in the mid- to upper-90s across the region. We could see a few isolated showers and thunderstorms this afternoon and early evening along with daytime heating, but your overall chances are very low. Lows tonight should drop into the upper 70s in Houston.

Thursday

We will start to see some slightly drier air backdoor into the region from the northeast on Thursday, likely pushing dewpoints into the lower 60s. Daytime highs will still get into the mid-90s, and sunshine will still prevail, but humidity will be a touch lower. This should allow low temperatures on Thursday night to drop into the mid-70s for most of the region.

Friday

With slightly lower humidity, Friday morning should feel pretty pleasant (although certainly not like crisp fall weather). Highs should still reach the low- to mid-90s on Friday, with another modestly cooler night in the 70s.

Saturday and Sunday

Highs this weekend will generally in the low- to mid-90s with sunny skies and a fair bit of humidity. At least we should be several degrees below record highs. Overnight lows will be in the 70s. Rain chances are near zero, so plan outdoor activities with confidence.

Next week

Monday likely brings more of the same, but by Tuesday or Wednesday the breakdown of high pressure and approach of an upper-level low pressure system should bring increased rain chances. This should also bring some more cloud cover, knocking highs down to around 90 degrees. How much rain will we get in the middle of next week? Difficult to say for sure, but probably in the ballpark of 1 to 3 inches. After this some kind of front is likely (we are not 100 percent guaranteeing this yet, sorry) to move into the region. This has a decent chance of bringing us our first nights in the 60s since late spring, but again the details are to be determined. I don’t want to make any false promises.

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This is why Matt left! He told you September was worse than August!! This has been terrible and I’m jealous of Matt!!

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It was 82 freakin’ degrees at dawn this morning, on the second day of what is supposedly fall around here.

'Nuff said.

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On the bright side. Not that it’s much comfort but it’s been 27 days since we last hit the 100 degree mark.

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Picked up around .30" this morning from a cell over League City area. Much needed.

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Months ago, I was talking to a local around here and we were talking about transplants and how many have moved here. He said they wont make it here, they cant handle the heat. I said but if they stay 20 years or so, that’s a long time. He said, but they still move back, they can’t handle it here. They will always go back or move out of here regardless.

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Did people forget what fall feels like? I am flabbergasted that people are considering a cold front with highs in the upper 80s as fall weather.

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Looking at September month to date, we haven’t hit a single average low - most days not even close. I’d be interested to know how many days this summer we actually hit an average low. Most weather reporting pays more attention to the high temp but low temp tends to be a much better indicator of comfort in our warm seasons. It feels underreported.

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Thankfully, I will not have to last 20 years here. Just get through two more summers.

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I think many here have never experienced true autumn that isn’t compressed into 4-6 weeks.

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I agree with you. I want more cool nights!

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There’s no love for the heat, the long, light evenings because of less cloud, the lack of rain meaning you can work on outside projects or make plans to be outside?

I get it, i’m not the majority view.. But i’ve loved every moment of this summer and i, for one (and ok maybe only one) will be sad as it wanes.

I’m a uk transplant and i AM gonna stay. I spent 35 years in a place that’s overcast 70% of the year and dark by 4:30pm for 6 months.

I guess I’ll have to make the most of the next few days and bite my lip as the rest of you cheer on afterwards :slight_smile:

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do we know how accurate long term forecasts from ECMWF IFS are?

i am seeing a forecast from oct 1st-oct 6 which highs of 80-82 and lows of 62-64.

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Since June 1st (114 days), Houston has only had 31 days with at least average low temperatures and only 10 days with below average low temperatures.

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i feel like there was a time where people up north would migrate down here to live because of the “perfect weather”.

I looked at some data about how many “comfortable days” most of the major cities around the use have 200+. Houston has around 50.

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I’ve had several coworkers at past jobs who were head-over-heels in love with Houston’s climate—like @CraigHarmann, they’d grown up in more northerly places and had had their lifetime allotment of gray winter days and short summers.

I feel like a lot of us native texans are on the opposite end of the spectrum, heh. I’ve had my fill of summers so hot that they consist of scrambling from one air conditioned space to the next, and drought, of $500 electricity bills, and of never being able to sleep with more than a thin sheet on the bed because the house can never get cool enough. I’ve had my lifetime allotment of heat, and I’d like to retreat to the icebox for the back half of my life :smiley:

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Same data in pie chart form. That’s a lot of red.

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I was born and raised in New Jersey. I’ve moved around a bit due to education and career opportunities.I found myself in Beaumont, TX in 1985. Other than a short detour to Broken Arrow, OK, I’ve been in Southeast Texas for over 40 years. I LOVE IT! I have no use for Winter. I’m willing to endure the occasional freeze. Big Deal! August can be rough, but I’ll take it over shoveling snow any day! Y’all need to be grateful!

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A lot of that has to do with the heat island effect. Thirty years ago I had a suburb of 16,000 to the south of me. Now that same suburb is around 120,000. All that concrete is har to cool off.

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Thanks @lee, I was about to comment and then saw you sounded the call. Yes, I have been a Texan since 2008. Wow. I just stopped and mathed that one. Still a couple of years behind the years spent in Wisconsin, but still. My family and I went back to visit 2 summers ago to see my Aunt and Uncle for their 60th wedding anniversary in late June, and I got legitimately cold being by Lake Michigan when it was in the low 60s. To be fair, I hated winters up north because not only did the potential for snow and cold last from the end of October to May…I literally lived though both extremes, I just didn’t like the cold. So I’m in my happy place. I know that not everyone is. And that’s OK.

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