After a raucous Thursday evening, Houston sets up for fair weather this weekend

Summary: After a wet and at times weird Thursday, the weather will calm down for the weekend. Our next storm aims for us on Monday, with another chance of showers or thunderstorms. Temperatures will remain on the cooler side at night, with mild to warm daytimes.

Quick editor’s note. Look for the second in our Q&A post series later this morning with answers to some of your questions!

Recap of yesterday

Rain totals yesterday were pretty healthy across most of the region. Between the early day rain in Houston and points south and later day rounds of thunderstorms north of Houston, virtually the entire area picked up a needed 1 to 3 inches of rain, with pockets of higher amounts.

Additionally, we had another couple rounds of hail reports with the evening storms, which felt like they came out of nowhere. If you squinted enough at early day model data, you could see some signals, but in real time, it was a bit difficult to pick out that there would be two additional rounds of storms north of Houston between the AM rain and overnight storms.

Anyway, we did have some pretty nasty hail north of Houston, with mostly quarter to half-dollar size hail reports from Copperfield through Jersey Village to near Acres Home and the Northside.

We had some additional hail reported north of there after 9 PM, though reports seemed a bit sparser. Then we had one final round of storms around or after Midnight. Those had strong winds and maybe some brief small hail. And absolutely torrential rain. And a gorgeous lightning display as they moved away.

It was a day.

Today and Saturday

We need a little time to dry out now, and we’ll get it today and tomorrow. Clouds should be on the gradual decrease today, leading to a nice afternoon. A couple showers may graze areas northeast of Houston late today as the system responsible for yesterday’s storms exits to the east. Highs will be in the 70s.

Look for sunshine tomorrow with highs well into the 70s after morning lows in the 50s. Splendid weather for the Bayou City Art Festival downtown or Saturday evening’s Houston Dash match with Racing Louisville, among many other activities this weekend. Yesterday’s rain did a number on pollen, but we may see it bounce back this weekend, so just be advised if you’re an allergy sufferer!

Sunday

We’ll transition to a slightly more humid setup as Sunday progresses. Morning lows in the 50s or low-60s would be followed by more clouds than sun at times, with highs in the mid-70s. Onshore winds will nudge up as the day wears on, so you’ll probably notice that also. I wouldn’t entirely rule out an isolated shower late in the day, but the vast majority of us should stay dry.

Monday

Our next system will join us for a limited engagement on Monday. Scattered showers and thunderstorms are likely before a cold front approaches in the evening hours. I don’t want to overstep my bounds of confidence right now, especially given how yesterday evening unfolded. But this storm looks a little less potent than yesterday’s. Still, showers and storms will be possible as early as Monday morning, ending sometime in the evening (though it shouldn’t rain in that entire window we don’t think).

Most areas should see about a quarter to half-inch or so of rain, but I would say this is a bit of a fluid forecast. Check back in either this weekend or Monday to see if anything has changed.

Rest of next week

Much drier air builds in behind Monday night’s front. Dry air in late March allows us to cool off quickly in the evening and warm up quickly in the daytime. Look for highs in the 70s and lows in the 50s, if not a night in the 40s too. But we could easily see a 20 to 25 degree range in temperatures each day. Break out the quarter zips and shorts!