November Weather Wrap Up: Hot, Hot, Heat

If you could use one word to describe the weather in Houston this November, it would be: HOT. If you had two words: FREAKING HOT. We spent half the month at 80 degrees or above. On Nov. 5 and 13, the temperature reached 87 degrees, tying records that go back as far as the 1940s.

Though relatively humid (relative to a sauna), the month was also unseasonably dry. A major culprit was high pressure that brought us warm and moist air from the Gulf while repelling organized rain development.

This is what an average November looks like:

AVG HIGH: 72.0F
AVG LOW: 49.8F
AVG RAIN: 4.19”

Here's how we did this November:

AVG HIGH: 75.4F
AVG LOW: 53.4F
RAINFALL: 2.72”

We had six days of measurable precipitation, with more than one inch of rain Nov. 26 thanks to a passing cold front. The highest temperature was the 87 degrees mentioned earlier; the lowest was 36 degrees on the 17th.

Is this global warming at work? Probably not. In 1934, we had a high of 90 degrees on Nov. 1, which is the hottest November day in recorded history at the airport.

What does December look like? A cold front moved through overnight, which brought drier and colder air to the area. Temperatures should warm up slightly on Wednesday before another cold front cools us down again. Here’s hoping for a colder-than-normal December.