There’s only one bit of good news in this forecast: We’re almost half way through August

In brief: Houston’s forecast remains more or less the same for the foreseeable future. We’re going to see blistering hot days, sultry and warm nights, and only very low-end rain chances for at least the next week to 10 days. So it goes in high summer in Houston, beneath high pressure.

August countdown

Today is August 15. There are 16 days and 17 hours until September 1.

Thursday

Skies will be mostly sunny today, with temperatures likely reaching the upper 90s for most of the Houston metro area. Winds will be light this morning, increasing to about 10 mph from the south later this afternoon. We will once again be on the lookout for isolated showers and thunderstorms, firing up along the sea breeze, later this morning and into the afternoon hours. Chances will be about 20 percent near the coast, and lesser for locations further inland. Lows tonight will only fall to around 80 degrees.

Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday

It looks like our heat will peak this weekend, and into next week, when much of the city will likely hit triple digit temperatures. We’ll continue to see sunny to mostly sunny skies, with isolated afternoon showers and thunderstorms.

Later next week

It’s still going to be hot. But at some point next week we should start to come down slightly in temperatures, back into the upper 90s. Rain chances could become a bit higher as well, perhaps in the 20 to 30 percent range, during the second half of next week, but I wouldn’t bank on it. The ridge of high pressure just isn’t going to move a whole lot, so accordingly our weather isn’t going to change much.

The tropics

Ernesto has become a hurricane, and it is likely to become a major hurricane before reaching Bermuda this weekend. We have full coverage of this system on The Eyewall. Beyond Ernesto, the Atlantic basin continues to look quiet for the next week or possibly even 10 days. I’m not complaining.