For the second straight day, most of the greater Houston area saw temps starting off in the mid to low 30s. There was one difference Thursday morning that actually had a few locations COLDER than on Wednesday.
SEE ALSO: One more shivering cold morning in Houston before the week warms up
Dead Calm Winds:
In order to have “ideal” cooling conditions, you need three things: Clear skies (check), cold air (check), and last but not least ... dead calm winds (check!)
Above is a snapshot of our wind profile around 6am Thursday morning. This was the ONE ideal cooling ingredient that was missing from Wednesday’s rather chilly morning. Let’s contrast what temps bottomed out at Wednesday morning:
Notice that while there are some spots below 32 degrees, Houston stayed at 39, and our usual cooler spots across the northern counties were actually at or just above freezing. Hmmm, now why is that? The wind! Winds stayed up around 10-15 mph through most of Wednesday morning.
SUGGESTED: Why we dream of a white Christmas and the last time Houston had one
Take a look at those same areas Thursday morning, this time with the winds either dead calm or close to it:
Look how much colder it is with no wind in many locations! Here’s why: Wind allows for the shallow air near the surface to mix, which can actually have a very small but still important effect on keeping temperatures from cooling to their maximum by not allowing the max amount of heat from the previous afternoon to escape into the atmosphere. The more you know!