Lower humidity expected next couple of days, but tropical moisture returns this weekend

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — Get ready for a nice break from that Southeast Texas humidity today as dry air moves in! Enjoy it today though, because moisture will move back in quickly by Friday into the weekend.

With the drier air in place, parts of Southeast Texas are starting off in the mid 60s… mainly north of I-10. Most areas near or south of I-10 are starting off in the mid to upper 70s. A warm, southwesterly breeze will crank the heat up into the upper 90s during the afternoon, and there is an Air Quality Alert for the possibility of high ozone pollution levels. Ozone is a lung irritant that can trigger a dry cough and asthma attacks in sensitive individuals. The day will be mostly sunny with the rain chance close to zero percent.

Whatever dry air remains Thursday evening is gone by Friday morning with the return of the Gulf breeze. Moisture levels will continue to climb over the weekend.

So what’s in store for us this weekend?

More opportunities for rain. Tropical moisture is blowing in on Saturday and increasing more on Sunday, and some of this moisture is from a Pacific hurricane named Lorena. We won’t get any wind from that system, but the higher moisture levels will boost the chances for heavy rainfall. We currently have a 30% chance for a downpour Saturday, and that rain chance doubles up to 60% Sunday as the tropical moisture sits overhead and gets squeeze by a front pushing in from the north.

A front?! Will it bring us any cooler weather?

Maybe. We don’t want to get your hopes up too much, but our best read on the front right now is that it will bring a strong enough push of drier and slightly cooler air to possibly drops lows into the upper 60s and highs into the upper 80s for a day or two. The last time Houston’s official thermometer dropped into the upper 60s was at the end of May! Look for the front to blow in drier air as early as Monday.

What is happening in the tropics?

A tropical wave in the eastern Atlantic has a high chance for development and becoming Gabrielle. While the Gulf is quiet now, we continue to see signs activity will pick up across the Atlantic basin by mid-September. Meanwhile we have now hit the time of year where we pay closer attention to Pacific hurricanes that can send their moisture and rains toward Texas, and Hurricane Lorena may do just that early next week. For a thorough update and in-depth video on what’s happening in the tropics, head to our tropical update page.

This story comes from our news partner ABC13 Houston.