Over the past 12 months, Houston has seen more than its fair share of anomalous weather. From Hurricane Harvey's record flooding to an early-December snow to a January freeze that kept temps below 32 degrees for around 36 hours and left frozen rain intact on shadowy roof gables for several days, we've had a lot of odd-for-Houston (and, in the case of Harvey, anywhere) weather.

As we approach what is the winding down of winter in Houston, no doubt you are starting to wonder if we are nearly done with the cold stuff. First, let's start with the immediate future.

Beautiful, sunny and cool weather should about for most of the week in the area. By Thursday, clouds should begin to build ahead of a cold front. There is a modest chance of rain over the weekend, particularly on Saturday, but no significant amounts are expected. Mainly, it will be kind of rainy and gross, an unfortunate forecast for the opening weekend of Galveston Mardi Gras.

No freezing weather is expected for the Houston area thanks mainly to pervasive cloud cover, but Friday will be chilly with highs only in the 50s and lows in the 40s. Next week, a similar pattern should repeat itself.

As to long-range forecasts, most do not anticipate freezing temperatures for southeast Texas, at least not over the next two weeks. That gets us to around Valentine's Day with nary a hint of frost. The longer we go, the lower the odds we will see below-freezing day, but beyond two weeks, forecasts become extremely uncertain.

Most forecast models continue to suggest that most of our area will remain at or slightly above normal in terms of temperatures over the next two months. Typically, the last chance of a significant freeze comes just before the end of February, but we can get temperatures hovering around the freezing mark into March.

At this point, it seems the chances of seeing a hard freeze (eight hours below 32 degrees or lower) again this winter are below 50-50. There isn't enough concrete evidence to suggest we are in the clear, but warmer days are definitely on the horizon. Now, try to remember that in August.