Weather

Weather Sucks: Thank God We Only Have Hurricanes to Deal with in Houston

"It's already here! - Twister Overnight in north Texas, a rash of tornadoes killed at least six people and injured many more. There could be another outbreak of twisters tonight as dry, cool air from the north slams into warm Gulf air over Texas. It's unfortunately a common occurrence for an area l ... More >>

And So It Begins: We Have Our First Tropical Depression Of The Year

There comes a time every May where the days start to get a little longer, the temperatures start to get a little hotter, and our eyes turn to those big bodies of water flanking us that we've been ignoring the last few months. Hurricane season may start June 1, but the truth is hurricanes form when t ... More >>

Weather Week: Ain't No Cure for the Summertime Blues

Get ready because it's coming. We've been pretty spoiled the last month or so with all the cool weather. It's been downright pleasant at times, even in the last two weeks. And while it might be July before we start seeing consistent low to mid 90s high temperatures, summer is definitely here. So if ... More >>

Weather Week: Who's Ready for One More Shot of Cold Weather?

The oddball "spring" weather in Houston continues this week, but before I get there, let's recap the rain we had over the weekend. Certain parts of town received as much as 8 inches of rain on Saturday as thunderstorms trained along a warm front. As amazing as it may seem, April will still go down a ... More >>

Hunker Down: The Hurricane Forecasts Are Out. Five Things to Keep in Mind

It's that time again. No, not hurricane season, it's hurricane predictin' season, partner. So, get out yer slide rule and a room full of super computers. Grab the nerdiest guy you can find and shelter in place because this is going to be a wild ride. Every year in April, the forecasters begin layin ... More >>

Weather Week: April Showers May Continue as Temperatures Slowly Rise

Last week, the entire area got around two inches of rain, as much as three in some places. Considering how drought-ridden our area has been, that's a pretty decent amount of rain but not nearly enough to stave off persistent dry weather that has been plaguing the region for nearly two years. This we ... More >>

Ready for Hurricane Season? The Predictions Are Starting to Come In

Last year when the world was held rapt at the plight of northeastern residents during "Super Storm" Sandy, we along the Gulf Coast chuckled. Not at the suffering of the people there. In fact, we understand those poor people and what the went through better than just about anyone. We were laughing ov ... More >>

Weather Week: Beautiful Weather For Your Spring Break

A blustery, overcast and even somewhat rainy weekend has given way to a seriously beautiful week, which should warm up nicely as we continue into this coming weekend, perfect for all you spring break maniacs. But, if you started your party this past weekend, it might have been a minor bummer, dude, ... More >>

Evening Commute Will Be a Very Wet One

As predicted, the wet weather is on us and much of the area has gotten a good soaking, at least an inch-and-a-half by 2 p.m. this afternoon. The rain will continue throughout the afternoon as a warm front moves north through the area colliding with cooler, drier air to the north. The storm system h ... More >>

Frankie MacDonald, YouTube Weatherman from Canada, Warns of Severe Weather in HOUUUUUSTON, Texas Today (with Video)

As I mentioned on Monday, the Houston area is in for some wet, potentially severe weather, today and Wednesday thanks to a cool front moving into the area and stirring up showers and thunderstorms ahead of it. The rain should persist all day today and into Wednesday afternoon, with the worst of it ... More >>

Weekly Weather: Severe Weather Could Be in Our Near Future

Cold and damp. That is classic Houston winter weather. And we've been living with it for the last couple of weeks. For this week, the trend will be a gradual warmup moving towards the weekend -- we could see highs in the mid and upper 70s by Saturday before another cold front moves through -- but be ... More >>

Kings X Drummer Jerry Gaskill Loses Home In Hurricane Sandy

Rocks Off readers of a certain age will fondly remember Jerry Gaskill as the drummer from pioneering proto-grunge/metal band King's X. Perhaps many of you, like us, even had tickets to trio's show earlier this year at Warehouse Live that was cancelled after Gaskill had a heart attack. More bad news ... More >>

Advice on Handling Hurricane Sandy From the Gulf Coast (i.e. Hurricane Central)

Hey, East Coast, how you doin'? Sorry, our Jersey accent is a little rusty. We along the Gulf Coast have been watching with interest the furor over Hurricane Sandy as it makes its way towards the Jersey Shore. Maybe the hurricane wants to do some gambling. Maybe it wants to renact the entire movie S ... More >>

Breaking News: Funnel Cloud Warning for Fort Bend County

Click 2 Houston is passing on a weather report warning of possible funnel clouds this morning in Fort Bend County. The report says that rapidly developing thunderstorms coupled with "a very buoyant atmosphere" will lead to funnel clouds. Their report follows:

Five Lessons Learned from Hurricane Isaac

The circus has finally left New Orleans as they begin their clean up after Hurricane Isaac dropped boatloads of rain on the Big Easy earlier this week. Despite some dire early warnings and a near-miss of the GOP convention in Tampa Bay, Isaac was fairly tame by hurricane standards. That didn't stop ... More >>

Rest Easy, Texas (Well, Not Too Easy): Tropical Storm Isaac Inching Its Way Toward Louisiana

Fortunately for everyone along the Gulf Coast, Isaac is still a tropical storm as of Monday morning. The storm has yet to form a solid inner core thanks to some wind shear from an upper-level disturbance near it, but that will change as it moves toward the northern Gulf Coast. Isaac should slow down ... More >>

Tropics Heating Up as We Reach the Stretch Run of Hurricane Season

Despite June and July's tropical bluster, as predicted, it's been a fairly quiet hurricane season. With eight named storms, three of which were hurricanes -- none of them stronger than a category two and only one making landfall (in Mexico) -- the pace has been just about what forecasters thought at ... More >>

Welcome Back, Hot and Dry. How Long Will It Last?

So, the rain, did you enjoy it? I think after the record-breaking drought of 2011, most Houstonians were open to some days filled with more than just the occasional pop-up thunderstorm and we got them. Virtually every day for the last three weeks, we've had some rain in the area and, as a result, ve ... More >>

Hey, Look, It's Summer! Houston's Normal Summer Weather Has Finally Arrived

Stephen Colbert described Houston weather as a combination of the heat of Texas and the humidity of New Orleans. That's actually not far off in the summer. We are a fairly tropical climate. For the past couple weeks, however, it's felt more like a jungle during monsoon season. Now that Mother Nature ... More >>

UPDATED: Flash Flooding Will Be a Problem Through Early Afternoon

UPDATE 8:30 a.m. - More than 14,000 residents are without power thanks to the storms rolling through. A line of storms is moving very slowly through the entire area and will continue to be a problem through lunch. Original Post:The National Weather Service issued a Flash Flood Watch yesterday that ... More >>

App of the Week: NOAA Hi-Def Radar's Tracks Rain, Hurricanes and More

App: NOAA Hi-Def Radar Platform: iPhone Website: Apple Store Cost: $1.99 Anyone who knows me or reads my posts on this blog (thanks, mom!) knows I am a bit of a weather nerd and by that I mean I am a serious weather nerd. I've ranked and reviewed numerous weather apps and have an entire folder on m ... More >>

Welcome to the Jungle: Houston Returns to Rainforest-Like Weather the Next Two Weeks

Hot, wet and steamy could either be the title of a porn movie, the description of a bunch of fat old guys in the steam room at the Y or the description of our weather this July. It could be all three. But, for the kids, let's stay focused on the weather, shall we? If you liked Sunday's weather with ... More >>

Heat? Check. Rain? Check. Hurricanes? Maybe Not. Summer in Houston, 2012

If you don't like Houston, probably at the top of your list of reasons why is the summer. For those not accustomed to the -- let's call it "sticky" -- weather the Bayou City offers from July through September each year, it can be a brutal three or four months. Of course, for people like me who have ... More >>

Tropical Storm Debby Apparently Wants to Do Florida

We know, we know, but that joke is never going to get old. As we discussed last week, that disturbed area of weather in the southern Gulf of Mexico has done spun itself up into a tropical storm. The National Weather Service designated Tropical Storm Debby on Saturday afternoon and reported she it co ... More >>

Debby Does Houston? Disturbance in the Gulf Bears Watching

The images you see above are recent model runs from two of the major weather forecasting models, both predicting a large hurricane -- which would bear the name Debby -- along the Texas coast middle of next week. And you thought the only supplies you'd be stocking up on next week were fireworks for J ... More >>

Jo Koy

Know Your Local Media: The Chron's Eric Berger on Hurricanes, Climate Change and Evacuating Katy

Full disclosure: In 2000, I was working on a grassroots campaign supporting the arena referendum that passed and resulted in the building of Toyota Center. At the time, the Houston Chronicle's Eric Berger was covering the campaign, a less contentious follow-up to the loss suffered a year earlier tha ... More >>

Hurricane Season 2012: The Predictions -- A Quiet Year in the Tropics?

With so few storms impacting the U.S. last season and with one of the worst droughts in recorded history gripping our region, it would be tempting to think that last year was a down year in hurricane production. In fact, it was quite the opposite. In 2011, the Atlantic produced 19 named storms incl ... More >>

Early Forecasts Calling for a Quieter Than Normal Hurricane Season

Did you enjoy the winter? Went quick, didn't it? It seems like just 15 minutes ago, we were all lounging in the cool Houston winter while our northern neighbors were breaking out the snow plows. We laughed and laughed. Now, we've started to reach that wonderful time when even your beads of sweat hav ... More >>

Hank Schyma: Southern Backtones Singer Is Fearless Tornado Chaser

If you saw the dramatic footage out of North Texas Tuesday, hopefully from the safety of your living room or gathered around a TV at work, you know that weather events like those tornadoes can make pretty compelling television. And someone has to head straight into those storms to film all that vide ... More >>

App of the Week: WeatherBug Elite

​App: App Shopper Platforms: iPhone, iPad, Android, Blackberry, Windows, Palm Web site: WeatherBug Website Cost: $0.99 People who know me know I'm a weather nerd. I love reading about it and talking about high pressure areas, cold fronts, hurricanes and the like. The doppler radar plays a pro ... More >>

Update: Rough Weather, Tornados Rolling Through Houston, Affecting Airports

As has been mentioned by weather forecasters in recent days, some pretty rough weather is passing through Houston this morning as part of a cold front. The storms are spanning high winds, torrential rain (some areas could receive up to five inches), flash flooding and potential tornadoes. According ... More >>

Meat Market

You'll probably be paying more for your rib eyes and Whoppers thanks to the great Texas drought of 2011.

Welcome to Winter in Houston: More of the Same in Store

Courtesy Harris-Mann Climatology.​In August and September when we in Houston are suffering through brutal heat and humidity, there is a tendency for people from here to bemoan the hot Texas summers and for our friends in the northern part of the country to brag about 75-degree summer highs. In ... More >>

Houston's Long Hot Dry Year: 2011 Year in Weather

There's an old saying, "If you don't like the weather in Texas, wait." In 2011, that statement was on full display as we suffered some of the wildest weather changes the state has ever seen. In Houston, there was at least some consistency. Unfortunately, that consistency came in the form of a bruta ... More >>

Severe Storms, Hail Moving Through the Area

Courtesy of Wunderground​So, you wanted some rain, eh? Well, here you go. The National Weather Service has issued a severe thunderstorm warning for Harris and Montgomery counties. Strong storms that include heavy rain, damaging winds and even hail are moving through the area from the north ahe ... More >>

Bold Prediction: Nate Won't Hit Houston and Neither Will Any Other Hurricanes This Season

One of the reliable forecast models showing Nate hitting Mexico, leaving us high and dry.​I'm not much of a betting man, but if I were, I would take odds that the Texas coast, and Houston specifically, will see no hurricane landfalls in 2011. We have a pretty substantial tropical storm in Nate ... More >>

The Cool Fronts, The Wild Fires and the High Pressure Shuffle

Sad drought makes The Boss sad.​With apologies to Bruce Springsteen for a weak attempt at borrowing his album title, the truth is our weather has been about as crazy and out of control as a three-hour rock show, except instead of booming speakers, girls flashing the stage and a ring of pot smo ... More >>

Dandy Don? Tropical Storm Could Bring Drought Relief This Weekend

Courtesy Weather UndergroundSee that little cloud mass by the Yucatan Peninsula...that's our boy!​Remember a couple weeks ago when I told you that just because it had been quiet in the tropics, that didn't mean it would stay that way? Well, I hate to say I told you so. A disturbance that will ... More >>

TS Don: And Then, Depression Set In -- Tropical Storm Could Bear Down on Texas by Friday (Updated)

Courtesy National Hurricane CenterLittle Donnie is getting bigger.​The National Hurricane Center reconnaissance plane found winds strong enough in Invest 90 to declare it the fourth tropical depression tropical storm of the 2011 hurricane season -- their next full report is at 6 p.m. As we m ... More >>

Hurricane Update: The Calm Before the Storm?

Let's hope not.​This year has brought record droughts, killer tornados and devastating flooding, yet our hurricane season has yet to rev up. This may cause some to believe we could be spared from substantial tropical activity this year. Don't believe it. What may seem like a quiet tropical At ... More >>

Run for Your Lives: Five Questions to Ask When You Are Considering Evacuating for a Hurricane

​It's almost July and we have our first Atlantic storm of the season in Tropical Storm Arlene. Fortunately, it doesn't appear that Arlene will grow larger than a minimal hurricane, if that, before it makes landfall along the Mexican gulf coast. Unfortunately, it won't come close enough to us ... More >>

App of the Week: Top Nine Websites for Hurricane Season

Literally, the weather authority when it comes to hurricanes, it's hard to beat the NHC.​I swear that after this post, I will stop talking about weather apps and websites for a while, but since it is hurricane season here on the Gulf Coast, I figured one more post won't hurt anybody and it mig ... More >>

Five Reasons Another Tropical Storm Allison Won't Happen in Your Lifetime

Now THAT is some serious flood water.​When Tropical Storm Allison hit in 2001 and dropped almost three feet of rain on central Houston, there were all sorts of terms like the "100-year storm" or the "500-year storm" thrown around. These kinds of weather events do more than just destroy propert ... More >>

App of the Week: Three Hurricane Tracking Apps Just in Time for Hurricane Season

Hurricane is about as good as it gets for tracking storms on your phone.​App: Hurricane Platforms: iPhone Web site: Apple Link Cost: $3.99 App: iHurricane HD Platforms: iPhone, Android, Windows Mobile Web site: Download Link Cost: $2.99 App: Hurricane Tracker Platforms: iPhone Web ... More >>

The Five Worst Tropical Weather Events in Houston History

The hurricane that hit Galveston in 1915 didn't have a name, but it left a mark.​Houston and Galveston, like any cities along the Gulf and Atlantic coasts of the U.S., are always vulnerable to tropical weather. The scariest of these events is most definitely the hurricane, with its fierce wind ... More >>

Hurricane Season 2011: The Predictions

Hurricane Ike's track from all the way out in the Atlantic to the Texas coast.​Hurricane season is upon us. Just like Christmas, but with high winds and death from above instead of toys and egg nog, it creeps up on us quicker than we expect and, before we know it, we're knee deep in a disaster ... More >>

Hurricane Predictions: Feds Say to Hunker Down

Rita, when it was coming for us.​The time to predict hurricane season has arrived, and -- as with Texans season previews -- what's predicted doesn't always tend to be what happens. So get your grain of salt ready. (On the other hand, severe weather has been the norm elsewhere in the U.S. rece ... More >>

Summer AND Hurricane Season Over For Houston (Unofficially, But We're Going With It)

We are NOT jinxing anything​Not to jinx anything, but it looks very much like Houston has avoided any real tropical storm experience in what was/is supposed to be the hyperactive hurricane season of 2010.When Eric Berger of the Houston Chronicle says so, that's good enough for us. And if we're ove ... More >>

Where The Hurricanes At? Weather Guys Say They Are Coming

Despite predictions, 2010 is no 2005 for hurricanes.​Each year we are treated to a barrage of predictions from noted hurricane experts about how active a hurricane season we will have in the Atlantic basin which includes the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea. This year, the predictions were rat ... More >>