Unless we get a Saturday morning surprise, 2023 will go down as only the third year in recorded history that Houston didn’t have a freezing temperature all year.
Our last freezing temperature was 28° the day after Christmas of 2022. Since then, our temperatures haven’t fallen below 33°. The streak as of Friday morning is 368 days and counting. And while we do have a chance to hit 32° Saturday morning, December 30 -- KPRC 2 meterologist Anthony Yanez doesn’t think we’ll do it.
He’s forecasting 36°.
We’ve done this before but it’s been a long time
The years 1956 and 1931 also did not record a freezing temperature in Houston. What is incredible is how long the city went without getting a freezing temperature.
1956: the streak went from December 16, 1955 to January 15, 1957 making for a total of 396 days.
1931: the streak went from January 9, 1930 to March 8, 1932 making for a total of 774 days!
It is important to note that the official recording station for Houston has been at Bush Intercontinental since 1969. Prior to that it was in downtown. More on the recording stations below.
We did get close this year
We did get close to freezing a handful of days, but we just missed it. These were the coldest low temperatures in 2023.
Getting back to Houston’s recording station
From the National Weather Service:
“The official observation site for the city of Houston was moved quite a few times during its long history. The city office was located in downtown Houston and observations began in July 1881. Regrettably, weather records prior to 1889 are not available. However, a relatively complete set of daily temperature and rainfall data is available dating back to 1892 with some temperature and rainfall records dating back to 1889. The city office remained in downtown Houston from 1881 through May 1969. Intercontinental Airport opened in June 1969 and the official observation site was moved to the airport upon its opening. The official observation site has been located at Intercontinental Airport ever since. Although the downtown office was the official observation site for almost eighty years, the office moved quite a few times around downtown Houston. Below is a list of locations and dates of the official observation site.”
- Cotton Station (July 1881 - September 1909)
- Stewart Building at Preston and Fannin (September 1909 - February 1926)
- Shell Building at Texas and Fannin (March 1926 - August 1938)
- Federal Building at Franklin and Fannin (August 1938 - May 1969)
- Intercontinental Airport (June 1969 - Present)
So while there will be a chill in the air ahead of New Year’s Eve, it looks like 2023 will go down in the history books of Houston weather!