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Here is the thing. Every time we're on the phone with our friends and family, they want to know about the weather. So, we decided to present you with an overview of key facts of Houston weather. Nothing more, nothing less.
Enjoy. Hope you'll like it
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Hurricanes and rain |
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Spring (21 Mar - 21 June)
Much of the Houston Spring would not feature badly as a summer in the Netherlands. Generally temperatures in March are between 20-25 C. Every now and then a front moves in from the North and things cool down a little, bit it's nothing compared to winter. Yet, the nights are still pretty fresh (15-20 C) and the pool does not get the time to heat up during the day. Most of the days are quite dry.
About April there is a massive change. The sun gains a lot of strength, and it tends to get warm (25-30 C). So far, April has been an excellent month for outdoor life. The mosquitos don't come out in swarms yet, and the sun is not blistering, even though you can develop serious sun burn if you want to.
By May it is time to get out the swimming gear. Temperatures can reach 30+ and the sun is about to reach its highest point. Work outside becomes a bit sweaty if you like, and it is not always fun to be on the patio between 1300 and 1500 hrs. When the wind turns to the North (and it does that every now and then), things will cool off a little - accompanied by some rain due to the hot and cold air colliding
June marks the start of the Hurricane season. That means two things: more interest in the weather forecast, and MORE rain. It is nothing like a monsoon season, but it does get quite a bit wetter. This is due to the fact that tropical storms and hurricanes develop down south and east, in the Gulf of Mexico, and they push all the moisture onto the land. With Houston being so close to the shore, we get a lot of it. In between showers it is nice to sit outside, or take a dip in the pool. Major downside of the rain is the exponential increase in the number of mosquitos. Dusk and dawn are not the best times for outdoor reading.
Best time to come: April
Summer (21 June - 21 Sept)
Even though summer officially starts on the 21-st of June, it could start any day in June. June tends to be warm. The Hurricane pattern remains as in Spring. With the heat leading to rapid evaporisation of water the following tends to happen. It gets hot, it gets dry and it gets drier day by day. Then, 'suddenly' there is a brief spell of clouds and rain (usually a day or two) and then it starts heating up again. Good pool time....
July is much the same, only hotter (average about 31 C), and August is not different (only even hotter - average about 33 C). Last year in August all of a sudden we were presented with two weeks of rain. Some American friends said this is unusual so we're assuming it won't happen again.
Best time to come: any time, if you like heat.
Autumn (21 Sept - 21 Dec)
Autumn actually starts sometime end August, with new rains coming in. From one day to the other, the weather changes from rather hot (30+ degrees centigrade) to a lot colder (20-25 degrees centigrade). The reason for this change is cold fronts floating in from the North (Canada) to the South. Consequently, one day it it warm and nice, half a day later gets muggy and damp, and before you know it, it is cold(ish). After the sudden freeze the weather tends to get crisp and dry with clear blue sky until the southern wind kicks in and things warm up again.
This pattern changes slowly through the months. It is a continued battle between hot air in the South being pushed out by cold air from the North. The cold fronts get a little colder, and more frequent and tend to win more and more by December.
December can be very rainy - at least - in Houston. One front follows upon another (three per week), with many occasions of severe weather alerts. This would mean anything from flood warnings to tornado watch.
Best time to come: October
Winter
Winter was the biggest surprise for us. We had expected a mucky warm season, with Christmas celebrated outdoor on the patio, and tropical birds instead of angels. How different was reality.
Winter in Houston is paranoid - two faced, and it is all due to the battle between Canadian air and Gulf of Mexico air. Most of the time, the Canadian fronts have free reign, so they roll in one after the other. Temperatures drop below 10 on average, and at night we occassionally get frost. This is very bad for the plants, which, if you don't cover them with a nice blankie, die instantaneously. As plants are ridiculously expensive here, it is not only sad for the plants, but also for us.
Due to this dominance of Northern fronts, we actually have to turn on the gas-heater, and - we wear sweaters....
However, sometimes the Canadian air looses out to the Mexican hot air and you find yourself in your shorts out on the patio. This is what happened in February this year, and believe me, we got seriously sun burned.
Best time to come: mid January (?)
Houston is close to the Gulf of Mexico. As a consequence, it is part of the E-W corridor where Hurricanes develop between June and October. Most of the hurricanes come in from the Atlantic, and divert away from Houston before they hit land, but history has proven this area is not entirely safe from the big storms. (see also http://www.srh.noaa.gov/lch/research/txhur.htm ). By the way, not all storms develop into hurricanes. There is various degrees of "storm" apparently. Its starts with tropical depression, then there is tropical storm, and ultimately there is 5 grades of hurricanes, with grade 5 being the worst. So far (and so good) we have not experienced anything that came close to a hurricane. The worst thing we've had, and that was already bad enough, was tropical storm Allison.
Two weeks after our arrival in Houston and without any advance warning Allison appeared in Houston.
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satelite image of Allison
Allison dropped some 18 inches (>> 45 cm) in less than 3 days. The interesting thing was it all happened on the northern and eastern sides of town. The result: flooding, over 15 people dead and many many people with (uninsured) flooded houses. It was a sad time.
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Allison was apparently one of the worst storms in Houston's history - where rainfall is concerned - so we should be save for a while (knock on wood).
HURRICANE CLAUDETTE - JULY 2003
Fifteen July 2003 Hurricane Claudette made landfall, some 250 km South of Houston. This was a hurricane grade two which means it had sustained winds in the order of 90 miles per hour (approx 145 km/hr). Initially Claudette was predicted to move westward into Mexico, but it kept going north for much longer than the forecaster thought. At some stage it looked as if Claudette was coming straight to Houston, but just as it was approaching the coast of Galveston, it took a left and went of to Port O Connor. Consequently, we hardly saw any rain or wind, just some gusts. Down south things were a lot worse though.
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Now here is some interesting weather sites
The Weather Channel (Houston forecast)
The National Hurricane Forecast Center (US)
Dutch Forecast Site (KNMI, English and Dutch)
July 2003 -