Mild, beautiful weather ahead—plus an early Christmas outlook

Good morning! Our overall forecast remains on track, with mostly sunny, slowly warming weather conditions from now through most of the weekend. We’re also going to take a speculative look ahead at the weather for Christmas week.

Thursday

If you had clear skies this morning and were up early—as we usually are to research and write these forecasts—the setting full Moon was tremendous to behold. We’re seeing a few clouds higher in the atmosphere this morning, and that will lead to partly to mostly sunny skies today with highs in the low 60s. Thursday night will be moderately warmer, with lows down around 50 degrees in Houston, colder to the north, and warmer closer to the coast.

Friday

This should be a splendid day, with highs of around 70 degrees and mostly sunny skies. Temperatures Friday night will be similar to Thursday night, as a weak front arrives to forestall the onshore flow from kicking in for a day or so.

Saturday

With the weak front, Saturday is going to be amazing. Do you like sunshine? Dry air? Highs of around 70 degrees? You’re in luck. Lows Saturday night should be in the 50s.

We have been spoiled this fall!

Sunday

This day will be a little warmer, with highs perhaps in the mid- to upper-70s, as the onshore flow gets going. Expect mostly sunny skies with overnight lows around 60 degrees.

Next week

A strongish cold front is going to push through sometime on Monday, although the details are very much a work in progress. There will be some rain, but right now I’d bet on widespread accumulations of less than one-half inch. Whenever this all clears out, we’re likely to have clear and cold conditions from Tuesday on through most of next week. Highs will be in the 50s and 60s, with lows in the 30s and 40s.

Christmas week

As we move Christmas weekend, we are rapidly moving from a reliable forecast into the realm of speculation. However, the forecast models generally agree that by around next weekend, in the time frame of Dec. 21 or 22, Houston’s temperatures will be on the upswing for awhile. Right now, therefore, our forecast for Christmas week would be pretty warm, with highs in the 70s and humidity. Confidence is low in a two-week forecast, but given the agreement across a number of global models and ensembles, it’s not zero in this case.