This steamy week turns even hotter for the long holiday weekend

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — The heat and humidity intensifies heading into the long holiday weekend where Heat Advisories could be issued ahead of Memorial Day.

Friday will be another hot one with morning lows near 80 and daytime highs topping out in the low 90s with heat index values exceeding 100. Rain chances remain less than 20% for Southeast Texas, but there could be some big storms again popping up in North Texas.

Are there any more rain opportunities this week?

Not really. This heat ridge is going nowhere, and the humidity will only get worse. We’ll have to wait until next week for the pattern to change and storm chances to return.

What is the outlook for Memorial Day weekend?

It’s possible we could go under a Heat Advisory, especially on Memorial Day with a predicted high of 96 and a heat index of 111. If that heat index prediction verifies, it will be the hottest May heat index reading in Houston’s recorded history. The current record holder is 109 from May 1996. While it should stay dry Saturday and Sunday, there is a 20% chance of an afternoon downpour on Memorial Day. We’re eyeing the possibility that any storm that pops up could be severe with large hail and damaging winds, so for now it’s a small chance for a big storm.

Hurricane season is right around the corner! Anything I should be aware of now?

There’s nothing threatening in the Gulf of Mexico right now. There’s a swirling area of clouds over Cuba and Puerto Rico that the hurricane center has given a 10% chance of formation over the next 7 days. Even so, that storm is expected to get picked up by the jet stream and move north and east over the Atlantic. Otherwise, what you need to know this week is that NOAA released their Atlantic Hurricane Season Outlook for the 2024 season this week and they are predicting an extremely active season with 17-25 named storms, 8-13 hurricanes and 4-7 major hurricanes possible.

13 ALERT RADAR MAPS:

Southeast Texas