First things first: we’ve missed any hard freeze or icing this week and according to the American Model we will continue to have “above freezing” temperatures (even mild) through at least the middle of the month. Below is the American Model precip forecast which has just rain and that looks to be the 9th-10th and again on Valentine’s Day!
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We’ll see how the groundhog does against the models this year as he won’t see his shadow here in Houston tomorrow which means an early spring, but there looks to be plenty of sunshine for Punxsutawney Phil so he will forecast six more weeks of winter! I’m going with Houston!
Speaking of Valentine’s Day, here’s a bit of climatology on our past V-Days and take note of that 10° back in 1899!
Hopefully, your valentine will be warmer, at least in spirit! What else to expect this month? Well, we warm up for average highs and lows as we head toward March and the official meteorological beginning of spring!
All of this is important to note as on the ground we have trail riders this month along with the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo along with lots of Mardi Gras parade floats the next several weekends! Warm and dry would be great for both!
From the ground to the sky, that once-in-a-lifetime comet is visible tonight through Feb. 5, although clearly the clouds will not clear! So look for it starting Friday night and Saturday night. Here are the deets:
Speaking of Feb. 5, our full moon this month arrives then, called the Snow Moon (not the Ice Moon?) and sometimes called the Hungry Moon:
Lots of planets show up in our evening skies this month with Venus and Jupiter getting ever-closer to each other through the month! Here is a link to all those celestial happenings from EarthSky.
Have a safe end of the week as we head toward our first weekend of February -- which looks to be pretty spectacular weatherwise! Enjoy!
Frank
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