Heat hangs with Houston through the weekend with a break still on track next week

Since there’s not a whole lot new to discuss today, I spent a little time looking at statistics from Hobby Airport last night. So far this June, the airport has registered a heat index of 110° or hotter for 18 hours. That may not sound like much, but consider that no other year in the 2000s has come close to this many hours of extreme heat in Houston, at least at Hobby. Not even the infamous 2011 summer. The most recent challenge to this year is in 1998, when we managed 32 hours of 110° or higher heat index values, almost all in July and August. 1997 saw 19 hours. 1982 saw about 22 hours. The infamous summer of 1980 had a heat index of 110° or higher for 16 hours in June and then another 14 hours in July. We will see if the coming weeks will have us challenge 1980 and 1998 for supremacy, but regardless, it’s just dang hot.

Today through Friday

Surprise! It’s going to be hot. High temperatures will be near 100 and lows will be near 80 degrees through the end of the week. For today, we have a heat advisory in effect, not an excessive heat warning — for now. That may change through the day. But at least it signals the chance that it may feel just a tiny, miniscule, itty bitty, small bit less oppressive. Either way, we encourage maximum heat precautions today through Friday with continued persistent heat and humidity.

For those curious, rain chances the rest of this week remain at roughly zero point zero percent.

Weekend

We’ll maintain persistence through Saturday, with more hot and dry weather. Sunday should, should mark the beginning of the transition out of this pattern. Rain chances may increase to a whopping 5 or 10 percent Sunday, but more importantly, the upper air pattern will finally start to break down, signaling changes next week.

Heat break next week

There is good news and bad news beyond the weekend. The good news is that the heat should reduce to more average levels for early July next week. For those that have forgotten, that means highs in the low to mid 90s each day, lows in the upper-70s, and heat index values in the slightly less extreme 100 to 105° range.

Additionally, it means rain chances return to the area. Yes, this could mean a chance of showers or storms on Monday and Tuesday afternoons for the holiday, but it should at least mean some relief. We’ll hone in on specifics later this week.

The bad news? There are signs in our modeling that the heat over Texas may try to make a comeback after next week. But that’s still a long way off.