HOUSTON – We have not seen many freezing nights so far this year, but we have certainly had some chilly nights!
On Tuesday morning, Houstonians woke up in the 30s and 40s and we’re expected to be in the 30s and 40s Wednesday and Thursday morning.
By Friday morning, we are expecting to have a much more mild start with forecast lows in the upper-50s to nearly 60 degrees. A big change with Friday morning is that we are forecasting more cloud cover, which means we will be warmer. When you think of clouds overnight, think of it like natures blanket! When you have a blanket on at night you will stay more warm. When you have no blanket (clear skies) we can drop to much cooler temperatures.
Clouds during the daytime:
During the day, our ground is warmed through the sun. If it is a clear and sunny day we are able to heat up quicker! When we have additional clouds during the day we are cooler because less solar radiation reaches the surface.
Clouds are made up of water vapor and ice crystals, which reflects sunlight back into space and causes shade on our surface.
Clouds at night:
Although clouds during the daytime keep us cooler, clouds at night actually keep us warmer! During the nighttime the heat that we have at the surface escapes back into our atmosphere cooling us down. When we have cloud cover, the cooling process is less efficient.
Our clouds re-emit some of the heat back to the surface and help us hold in the heat.