Houston braces for intense summer heat after hot May
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Cooling off along Buffalo Bayou. Photo: Callaghan O'Hare/Bloomberg via Getty Images
It's not just you. Houston was hotter than normal in May — and now braces for potentially an even hotter summer.
Why it matters: Summers are getting warmer in Houston and across the country, posing a health risk for vulnerable groups like children, pregnant women, the elderly and homeless people.
Driving the news: National Weather Service meteorologists give Houston and much of Texas a 50%-60% chance of a hotter-than-normal summer, per their latest seasonal outlook.
Threat level: Houston will start heating up this weekend, with highs forecast in the mid- to upper-90s for the metro and close to 100 in northern communities.
- Humidity and sunshine will make Houston's heat feel well into the triple digits starting Friday, NWS Houston meteorologist Cameron Batiste wrote in a forecast discussion Tuesday.
What they're saying: "[We] may potentially flirt with the heat advisory threshold towards the end of the week," Batiste wrote.
- Batiste added the low temperatures will be "equally as miserable."
- "How do low temperatures in the upper 70s/low 80s sound? Yeah … not great."
Flashback: The Houston area's average high (+2.5 degrees) and low (+4 degrees) were warmer than in a normal May, according to NWS data.
- The average high was 89.4 degrees in May 2025, compared to NOAA's 30-year normal average high for the region of 86.9 degrees.
- The average low was 71.8 degrees in May compared to a normal average low of 67.8 degrees.
The big picture: Houston's average summer temperature rose 4.6 degrees between 1970 and 2024, according to a new report from climate research group Climate Central.
- The analysis defines "summer" as June through August and uses NOAA data on normal temperatures.
Zoom out: Average summer temperatures rose 2.6 degrees in the same time period in 97% of the 242 American cities analyzed, according to the report.
Stunning stat: Over 60% of the cities analyzed now have at least two more weeks' worth of hotter-than-normal summer days compared to 1970.
- Houston experienced above-normal temperatures for eight more weeks in 2024 than in 1970, the second-most days among the cities analyzed.
Context: Hotter summers are one of the most tangible ways we're experiencing climate change.
Between the lines: Many cities like Houston suffer from "heat islands" — areas of especially high temperatures caused by roads, parking lots, buildings and a lack of tree cover.
- Heat islands tend to be more common in low-income and predominantly Black and Latino neighborhoods, researchers have found.
The bottom line: While a warmer May doesn't necessarily signal a hotter summer, the odds aren't really in our favor for anything short of a scorcher.