Are you ready for a little early summer sizzle? Areas across Houston saw temperatures soar Tuesday afternoon.
Bush Intercontinental Airport hit 90, officially making it the warmest day of 2019 so far. While that is earlier than our average first 90-degree day of May 7, it's not unheard of to see highs this warm in April.
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So here's how we got here: After the storm moved through, a much drier air mass took over southeast Texas with a steady northwest wind. Dry air can warm and cool very efficiently versus humid air that has more water vapor. Think about warming up a saucepan on the stove. If it's empty, the pan will heat up very quickly. When you try to boil water, it takes much longer to warm up because water is a poor conductor of heat.
The atmosphere works the same way: Dry air can heat up fast, while humid air with more moisture can actually keep temperatures slightly cooler.
We start to average 90 degrees every day by May 31 but as evidenced by Tuesday, we can hit 90 degrees, even in the middle of spring.