If you ever have a conversation with someone who isn't from the south, they talk about autumn like it is a death knell. They lament the end of summer desperately. And they do it in September. Here in Texas, we tend to beg for the merciful end to the heat of summer and the tropical weather that often accompanies it. But, we don't really expect it to end before sometime in October. With the start of October upon us, we are still waiting.

The only thing that has managed to save us is the arrival of a couple very minor cool fronts and plenty of rain along with them. Most of the Houston area has seen at least an inch or two over the past week. If you live closer to the coast, you've witnessed near record rainfall in September.

Things should dry out slightly this week, particularly Tuesday through Thursday, but with that comes some sun and perhaps a day with temperatures at or slightly over 90 degrees. Temps in the 90s in October is certainly not unheard of, just not terribly welcome for those of us who just sweat our way through September, but here we are.

Lingering rain chances will remain on Monday, but things should clear by the evening. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday all have a slight chance of rain — 25 to 30 percent — but there also should be plenty of sun with temperatures in the upper 80s to near 90. It will be muggy and pretty unpleasant all around.

By later Thursday, rain chances begin to creep back into the forecast as another front moves into the area. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like it will clear our area and we'll be stuck with another muggy, soggy weekend. But, more on that later in the week.

If you are looking for a cool front, well, forecast models aren't exactly bullish on anything in the near term. They keep hinting at a front getting through, but then those chances die the closer we get to the date. At some point, it is going to happen. For now, temps will slowly creep downward as the days get shorter. Take whatever small comfort you can.

Watching the Tropics

Unless something crazy happens, this should be our last report on the tropics for the hurricane season of 2018. Only Tropical Storm Leslie remains in the Atlantic, floating around aimlessly no risk to anyone. Beyond that, no serious threats in the Atlantic Basin exist. The Pacific continues to be busy and the southwestern United States  could see the effects of Hurricane Rosa as she barrels into the Baja Peninsula. But, we should remain well clear of the fray.

Despite a rather quiet start, 2018 ramped up and has had 12 named storms for the year including five hurricanes and one major storm in Florence. That was the exact midseason prediction from Colorado State University. Yet, we still have two months left in the season, so it could certainly go above that. Fortunately, we don't expect any issues for those of us in Texas. Thankfully, for us, it was a quiet season when it came to formed storms even if we got more than our share of tropical moisture.