Drought conditions return to parts of Houston metro area as we heat up this weekend

In brief: Houston will continue to see plenty of sunshine for the foreseeable future, with temperatures continuing on an upward trend through the holiday weekend. Next Monday will be downright hot before a front arrives to provide some relief. We also take a look at increasing drought conditions in the metro area and offer a slight hope for some relief.

Drought returns

About one year ago, after the torrid summer of 2023, 100 percent of the Houston metro area was in at least a moderate drought, and for more than 90 percent of the region we were in a severe drought, according to data from the US Drought Monitor. Those conditions were wiped away after a wetter fall and winter, leaving the region completely drought-free for much of this year. Now that’s starting to change.

After dry conditions over the last couple of months, we’re starting to see drought conditions creep back into the area. About 70 percent of Liberty County, just to the east of Harris County, has now fallen into a moderate drought, and we’re seeing similar conditions to the northwest of Houston in Brazos County. Unfortunately, there won’t be much relief over the next several days. However there is a decent signal for rainfall about seven or eight days from now. We’ll see.

Friday

Skies today will be, you guessed it, completely sunny. We’ll see high temperatures of around 90 degrees for most of the metro area, with light northeast winds. Skies will be clear tonight—but alas, we think the northern lights that were visible in parts of the Houston region on Thursday night will be gone. Lows will fall into the mid-60s for most locations, with warmer conditions along the coast.

Saturday, Sunday, and Monday

It will be a hot and sunny holiday weekend as high pressure builds over the area. Look for highs in the lower 90s on Saturday and Sunday, pushing up into the mid-90s by Monday. Rain chances are effectively zero. The air will be a bit muggier, but it won’t be full on Houston humid. Winds will generally be light. Lows will drop to around 70 degrees.

Next week

As we’ve been discussing, some kind of front will arrive by around Tuesday, and thereafter we should see cooler days (probably in the lower 80s at least) and nights in the 50s or lower 60s. There’s likely no precipitation with the front, but rain chances do appear to be elevated beginning Friday and running into next weekend. Whether that means daily rain chances of 30 percent or 60 percent I cannot say. But since we’ve been so dry, it represents our best rain chances in quite some time.

Have a wonderful holiday weekend, everyone. We’ll see you on Monday.