For Valentine’s yesterday I sported a fun heart-print tie and mentioned that Kevin had the whole suit! A few of you asked to see that, so there it is in today’s cover shot from a 2019 wedding reception (no, he didn’t wear it to the actual ceremony!).
Hobby Airport tied their 1956 record high yesterday with 81° making it one of the warmest Valentine’s Days on record (you’ll recall where we were with temperatures two years ago this week!). So the obvious question, and I’ve heard it a lot, is whether we are done with freezing temperatures for this winter.
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Put that in the ‘never say never’ column, but my best forecast is that we’re pretty well on to spring. I always note that the meteorological seasons are by the month: Dec-Jan-Feb is winter, while March-April-May is spring. And I wrote recently that only once on record (Dec 1884/Feb 1885) have we had two major freezes in the same winter. Given our past December freeze, the odds are with us NOT to have another major freeze this month or next.
Saying that, March averages lows in the mid 50s and highs in the mid 70s, but the records for the month are generally always below-freezing temperatures. I can tell you that with the exception of this coming Friday and Saturday morning, with temps in the mid 30s, the rest of THIS month looks mild for us.
The above map takes us through the end of the month. Here is the American Model through March 3rd and you’ll see a lot of green to orange to red colors, indicating mild weather:
The Climate forecast from NOAA (National Oceanic Atmospheric Association) has our region above-normal for temperatures through March and April:
Speaking of April, I had this nice viewer email:
I’ve never sent an email to a television personality before, but here goes. I’ve found that the last freeze in Houston, Texas, is April 10. When searching on the internet I see this in several places, but no where could I find the year. I even found this on the Weather Channel website but the year isn’t given. Would you have that information?
Obviously, I look to you as the expert. Thank you for providing up-to-date weather information.
Now could you provide historical information?
Thank you,
Elizabeth D.
La Porte, Texas
I can, Elizabeth. April 10, 1973 we dropped to a record low of 31°. Here is the official chart and notice that a lot of those April record lows occurred in the early 1970s when the climate was cooler:
The good news is that while we traditionally see our coldest weather in January and February, that looks to have bypassed us this year. I say, onward into spring! By the way, how did Kevin’s “heart suit” actually go over at that fancy wedding reception? Well, the bride loved it:
Weekend Two of Mardi Gras looks like last weekend: dry but chilly! Enjoy!
Frank
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