Temperatures dipped below freezing north and west of Houston Friday morning, a brief reminder that hey, it is December after all.

The city itself stayed in the balmy mid-thirties overnight, but Space City Weather predicted a few of Houston's immediate suburbs may have dipped below 32 degrees around dawn — the first freeze for the region this season. Wind chills were in the high 20s north of the city and about 30 in Houston itself.

The "freeze line," the unnecessarily foreboding term Texas forecasters use to describe temperatures that are a normal part of winter everywhere north of Houston, remained north of the city overnight.

That arbitrary barrier could creep closer to Houston Friday night into Saturday, as the National Weather Service predicts lows below freezing in Conroe, Liberty and Cleveland. But the same banks of clouds that kept us toasty Thursday night may keep the icicles away through Saturday morning.

Harris County remains under a freeze watch.

But don't blink, or you're liable to miss winter in Houston. Temperatures will jump right back to unseasonable levels by the weekend. The weather service predicts highs in the mid-50s for Saturday and practically-April 70s on Sunday.

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