Originally published at: Jack Frost nipping at your nose as our chilly December continues – Space City Weather
In brief: Following a brief warm-up this weekend, Houston’s temperatures are back on the cooler side this morning. We’re going to be cold for about 48 hours before the second half of this week is warmer and quite mild for December. By the weekend the forecast turns more uncertain.
December, one week in
It has certainly felt festive during the first week of winter in Houston. On Sunday, just as temperatures started to warm up a bit, another front blew into the region dropping the mercury precipitously. Through the first seven days of the month, the city’s average temperature of 50.8 degrees is nearly 7 degrees below normal for early December. We will now experience a couple of more chilly days before temperatures moderate in the middle of the week. And so it goes with roller coaster weather, which is often the norm in Houston during December as we are whipsawed between fronts and then the returning flow from a still warm Gulf.
Will this much colder pattern hold? Probably not. In he big picture, it does seem like the first week of December will end up being colder, on average, than the middle of the month.
Speaking of cold weather, I just wanted to send a shout out to the hometown football team. The Texans ventured into the unfriendly confines of Arrowhead Stadium on Sunday night and gutted out a win in a brutally hard-hitting game. Temperatures during the second half hovered around 20 degrees, with wind chills in the low teens. Is it time to start talking about playoffs?!
Monday
Today will be the coldest of the week. Highs will struggle to climb out of the upper 50s, and there will be a chilly northerly breeze throughout the day. Mostly cloudy skies this morning will give way to clearing skies later today, such that we will end up with a fair amount of sunshine. Winds will die down this evening, and with clear skies we’ll see ideal conditions for cooling. Much of the area surrounding Houston, and away from the coast, will drop into the upper 30s, with a light freeze possible in parts of Montgomery and Waller counties.
Tuesday
This will be a sunny day, with highs in the low 60s. Winds will shift to come from the south on Tuesday, beginning an onshore flow. But I still expect lows to drop into the upper 40s on Tuesday night.
Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday
These all look to be pleasant days, with highs generally in the 70s and lows in the 50s. Skies will be sunny to mostly sunny, and winds generally light.
Saturday and Sunday
Our weather this weekend will be determined by whether a front makes it into the region, and frankly it’s not at all clear what will happen. I think it is more likely than not some sort of front does make it in by Sunday, but I would really like to see some consistency before making a forecast. For now I’ll predict highs around 70 degrees on Saturday, and in the 60s on Sunday, but I don’t feel great about it. We’ll probably see a mix of sunshine and clouds, but again that is dependent on what happens with the front. Rain chances are low, but perhaps not zero.
Next week
Unfortunately the forecast for next week is similarly muddled. There are scenarios in which the early part of next week is in the 70s, and there are outcomes in which we get some rain and a significantly cooler front drives into Houston in the Monday or Tuesday time frame. For now I’m going to just say let’s wait and see.
