Houston’s torrid late-summer weather will unfortunately continue, as expected, for the rest of the week. On Wednesday, the high temperature reached 99 degrees, and that’s pretty much the floor for what we can expect from maximum temperatures the rest of this week. By Friday, we’re likely to break a 110-year-old high temperature record.

Thursday

We will not touch the record high for Houston today, which is 108 degrees. If you lived in Houston, in 2000, you may remember the extraordinary heat wave of early September that year—this was the tail end of that period. Rather, Houston’s highs will “only” get up to around 100 degrees on Thursday as high pressure dominates the region. Rain chances are non-existent. Humidity will be a smidge below typical summer levels, which is about the only good thing that can be said about this heat.

Friday

The high record for Friday is 99 degrees, set way back in 1909. We are very, very likely to beat that as Friday’s highs should get into the low 100s for most of the city. You’ll note new banners from Reliant on today’s post—it’s because the late summer heat is putting a strain on the state’s electricity grid. Please conserve energy if possible during the hottest part of the day.

Saturday and Sunday

We’ll see more heat this weekend, with high temperatures likely to be equaled or exceeded on Saturday (98 degrees, in 1963) and Sunday (100, in 1907). Rain chances, of course, remain near zero.

Next week

The really frustrating thing about this heat is that it’s difficult to find too much relief in the near term. Perhaps by Tuesday, or so, of next week we’ll see some atmospheric disturbances working their way into the region which will nudge rain chances up to 20 or 30 percent. But highs are likely to remain at least in the mid-90s.

Tropics

The Atlantic tropics are active in September, as one might expect. Hurricane Dorian has strengthened back into a major hurricane this morning, and will bring some misery to the coastal Carolinas today, before pulling away from the continental United States. Elsewhere, there’s a lot of activity, but nothing that is really threatening land. Longer-term, at least over the next 7 to 10 days, we don’t see any significant threats to the Gulf of Mexico.