Rare August cold front may miss Houston while cooling much of the U.S.

HOUSTON — A rare and unusually strong August cold front is set to sweep across much of the central and eastern United States next week, but Houston may be left out of the cool down.

We are tracking a cold front, a strong one, unusually strong cold front for August. It is forecast to come into the Lower 48 and bring temps down across the middle and especially the eastern half of the country.

Forecast models show Dallas cooling off with highs dropping into the low 70s by Tuesday — spending much of the day in the 60s. Shreveport is expected to top out at 68, and Jackson, Mississippi, at just 64. Even Atlanta could see highs in the low 60s, with Birmingham forecast at 61.

Houston, however, may stay stuck in typical late-August heat and humidity. 

Houston is still forecast to be more of a southerly flow off the Gulf, so I don’t know if we’ll feel much with this. Monday and Tuesday highs in Houston are projected near 95 to 96, right at normal for this time of year.

By midweek, though, Houston could catch the edge of the front with a shift in winds and a better chance for rain. 

We might see a little bit of a shift to the northeast out of the wind going into Wednesday. But any relief may come more from rain-cooled air than from the front itself. 

Maybe we get a little taste.

While the city may miss the brunt of this rare late-summer cool snap, it’s an unusually strong pattern for August and could bring follow-up fronts into early September.