{"id":378249,"date":"2026-07-18T23:08:18","date_gmt":"2026-07-18T23:08:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/378249\/"},"modified":"2026-07-18T23:08:18","modified_gmt":"2026-07-18T23:08:18","slug":"houstons-midseason-weather-report-card-oddly-warm-nights-so-far-hotter-days-ahead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/378249\/","title":{"rendered":"Houston’s midseason weather report card: Oddly warm nights so far, hotter days ahead"},"content":{"rendered":"

Halfway through meteorological summer (June, July and August), Houston’s weather report card<\/a> comes with an unexpected twist.<\/p>\n

Houston’s afternoons have been surprisingly ordinary by historical standards, particularly after several recent summers got off to much hotter starts. After sunset, however, it’s been a very different story. Exceptionally warm nights have helped make this one of Houston’s warmer starts to meteorological summer despite the lack of record daytime heat.<\/p>\n

Quiet hurricane season, but for how long?<\/p>\n

Heading into this weekend, the National Hurricane Center<\/a> was monitoring the eastern Gulf of Mexico as a broad area of showers and thunderstorms was expected to meander in the region over the next few days.<\/p>\n

Although forecasters were giving the system a 30% chance of development over the next seven days, the long-range track and organization of the system remained uncertain, the hurricane center said.<\/p>\n

This year’s Atlantic hurricane season has been unusually quiet<\/a> so far, but 1forecasters expected this to be the case because of the emergence of an increasingly strong El\u00a0Ni\u00f1o early in June. El\u00a0Ni\u00f1o events<\/a>, which occur when the tropical waters in the eastern Pacific Ocean become warmer than normal, can influence weather globally. One typical effect on the Atlantic Ocean, for instance, is increased wind shear, which can disrupt tropical cyclone development.<\/p>\n

Tropical Storm Arthur<\/a>, which briefly formed last month in the Gulf of Mexico, has been this season’s only named storm.<\/p>\n

Houston starts feeling like summer again<\/p>\n

The second half of meteorological summer will start looking much more like what\u00a0Houston expects to experience\u00a0this time of year.<\/p>\n

SUMMER IN CHARTS: Houston’s heat isn’t just in your head. These charts show why summers feel hotter and longer.<\/a><\/p>\n

Lower humidity aloft and strengthening high pressure over Southeast Texas will keep rain chances relatively low through the weekend and into next week. That’s a sharp change from the tropical pattern that brought repeated rounds of rain earlier this week. While most neighborhoods should stay dry, isolated afternoon showers and thunderstorms remain possible as the sea breeze moves inland.<\/p>\n

With fewer clouds and less widespread rain, afternoon temperatures should climb back into the mid-90s Saturday and Sunday. Combined with Gulf humidity, heat index values will once again top 100 degrees during the hottest part of the afternoon.<\/p>\n

Could Houston see its first 100-degree day next week?<\/p>\n

The odds are increasing.<\/p>\n

High pressure is expected to strengthen across Southeast Texas through next week, keeping rain chances relatively low while allowing afternoon temperatures to climb into the upper 90s. Current forecasts call for highs between 97 and 99 degrees<\/a> across much of the Houston area, putting the city’s first 100-degree day of the year within reach.<\/p>\n

Bush Intercontinental Airport has already come within a few degrees of 100 several times this summer, but lingering clouds and periodic rain have repeatedly prevented the mercury from reaching triple digits. That may become more difficult next week as high pressure strengthens.<\/p>\n

HILL COUNTRY FLOODING: Here’s why the Texas Hill Country is flooding again as the Guadalupe River surges past 2025 levels.<\/a><\/p>\n

Late July and early August are climatologically among Houston’s hottest weeks of the year, making this the time of year when triple-digit afternoons become increasingly likely.<\/p>\n

Warm nights have dominated Houston’s summer so far<\/p>\n

This year, meteorological summer\u00a0has been defined by contrasts.<\/p>\n

Through July 15, Houston had picked up more than 10 inches of rain since June 1, making this the city’s 30th-wettest start<\/a> to meteorological summer on record. That may not sound especially impressive until you consider the ranking spans more than 135 years of weather observations.<\/p>\n

Those frequent rounds of rain helped keep afternoon temperatures surprisingly ordinary. Through the first half of meteorological summer, Houston recorded just 33 days with highs of at least 90 degrees and only 12 days reaching 95 degrees or higher – well behind some of the city’s hottest starts to summer in recent years.<\/p>\n

\"Houston's<\/p>\n

Houston’s summer hasn’t been the obvious scorcher previous recent summers have been, but nighttime lows have been well above normal. Houston’s average lows between June 1 and July 15 rank as the 3rd-warmest since 1889. (NOAA’s Regional Climate Centers \/ Justin Ballard)<\/p>\n

The story changes after sunset.<\/p>\n

Houston’s average overnight low through the first half of meteorological summer ranks as the third warmest on record. Those exceptionally warm nights<\/a> have helped push Houston’s average temperature to its 21st-warmest start to meteorological summer on record despite relatively ordinary daytime highs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Because average temperature reflects both daytime highs and overnight lows, exceptionally warm nights have more than offset this summer’s relatively modest afternoon temperatures.<\/p>\n

The difference highlights just how much humidity has shaped this summer. Warm nights leave less opportunity for homes, pavement and even the human body to cool before the next day’s heat arrives, making the season feel more oppressive than afternoon temperatures alone might suggest.<\/p>\n

Subscribe<\/p>\n

There’s more to Houston with the Chronicle. Subscribe today for just 25\u00a2.<\/a><\/p>\n

This article originally published at Houston’s midseason weather report card: Oddly warm nights so far, hotter days ahead<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Halfway through meteorological summer (June, July and August), Houston’s weather report card comes with an unexpected twist. Houston’s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":378250,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[56,58,57,133740,133741],"class_list":["post-378249","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-houston","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news","tag-meteorological-summer","tag-warm-nights"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378249","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=378249"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378249\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/378250"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=378249"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=378249"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=378249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}