Houston weather by month: averages, rainfall & climate trends
Sprawling across the flat Gulf Coast plain, Texas's largest city pairs its energy-capital and space-program swagger with a steamy subtropical climate: long, humid summers and a wary eye on the hurricane season. Houston weather by month: average temperatures, rainfall, records and how the climate has changed since 1940.
Today vs average
−9.0°Fhigh well below average
How it's changed
+3.0°Faverage temperature, 2016–2025 vs 1940–1949average temperature vs 1940–496frost days a year now (2016–2025) · 6 in the 1940sfrost days a year · 6 in the 1940s135days above 86°F a year now (2016–2025) · 92 in the 1940sdays above 86°F · 92 in the 1940s+3.0°F vs the 1940s · see how it's changed →Weather by montha typical year, averaged over the full recordJanuary, rain 4.0 incheshigh 63°low 45°February, rain 3.4 incheshigh 66°low 48°March, rain 3.5 incheshigh 72°low 54°April, rain 3.9 incheshigh 78°low 61°May, rain 4.4 incheshigh 84°low 68°June, rain 4.1 incheshigh 89°low 74°July, rain 3.8 incheshigh 91°low 75°August, rain 3.7 incheshigh 92°low 75°September, rain 4.4 incheshigh 87°low 71°October, rain 3.4 incheshigh 81°low 62°November, rain 3.9 incheshigh 72°low 54°December, rain 3.9 incheshigh 65°low 48°wettest month May, 4.4 inches · 46.4 inches a yearsee month by month →Right now
What it's doing today vs the historical average for this date.Right now
54.1°
On this date: October 18
High well below average · −9.0°F
- Record high: 93.7° · 2007
- Record low: 43.2° · 1948
- One year ago: 91° / 74°
Every October 18 in history, coldest to hottest
Dots show daily highs (top) and lows (bottom) for each October 18 on record (n = 87). Outlined dots are today's forecast.
Area we sample
Each city's history comes from one ERA5 grid cell, about 28 km across, shown by the dashed box. Near mountains or coasts, conditions can vary across the cell.
Location & data
Historical weather for Houston is sampled from the ECMWF ERA5 reanalysis at 29.76°N, 95.36°W, with daily records since 1940.
- Coordinates
- 29.76°N, 95.36°W
- Time zone
- America/Chicago
- Period
- 1940–2026
- Data source
- ERA5 (ECMWF)
Last 30 days
29 of the last 31 days were warmer than the historical average for that date. Average difference: +4.0°F.
Each bar is one day, from morning low to afternoon high. Warm-colored bars are days whose mean ran above average; cool bars ran below. The dot inside the bar is the daily mean. The shaded band is the typical 10–90% range expected for that date. Average = the day's mean temperature averaged across every year of record (1940–2026) for that calendar date.
This date over the years
One dot per year, showing the mean temperature on this calendar date. Dots are warmer or cooler than the long-term average (dashed line); the shaded band is the typical 10–90% range, and the highlighted dot is today's forecast. Based on ERA5 reanalysis: modelled estimates, not station readings.
Weather by month
Average temperatures and rainfall for each month: a typical year, from the full record.Climate overview
Houston has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cfa) typical of the U.S. Gulf Coast. Through most of the year prevailing south and south-easterly winds draw heat and tropical moisture off the nearby Gulf of Mexico and Galveston Bay, making summers long, hot and intensely humid. The land is flat and low-lying, which, together with that abundant moisture, leaves the metropolis exposed to heavy downpours and slow-draining floods.
Houston has suffered more flood losses than any other U.S. city, and its modern history is punctuated by tropical disasters: Tropical Storm Allison in 2001, the catastrophic flooding of Hurricane Harvey in August 2017, and the Memorial Day and April floods of 2015 and 2016. Hurricane Rita in 2005, Tropical Storm Imelda in 2019 and a powerful derecho in May 2024 underline how often extreme weather tests the region.
August brings the year's peak warmth, with afternoons typically reaching 91.6°F and nights around 74.8°F. On about 175 nights a year, the temperature never drops below 68°F. At the other extreme, January brings afternoon highs of about 62.8°F and typical overnight lows of 45.3°F.
The yearly total for Houston comes to about 46.4 inches; monthly amounts range from 3.4 inches in February up to 4.4 inches in May.
The record here starts in 1940, and since then the annual mean in Houston has climbed 3.0°F from the first ten years to the last ten. The count of days past 86°F has risen from roughly 90 a year to 135 between the record's first and last decades.
Climate graph (climograph)
August is the warmest month, January the coolest: a yearly swing of 30°F. Wettest month: May (~4.4 in). Whole year averages ~46.4 inches of rain.
Bars = average monthly rainfall (right axis). Lines = average daily high and low (left axis). Average = each month's value averaged across every year of record (1940–2026).
Rainy days by month
About 101 rainy days a year: most in August (~11), fewest in October (~7).
Bars = average number of days with ≥ 0.08 in per month. Hover for the monthly rainfall total.
Monthly wind
Average daily peak wind at 10 m, by month.
Monthly solar energy
Average daily incoming solar energy in megajoules per square metre: the record's own proxy for how sunny the month is.
Houston month by month: what to expect
Typical conditions for each month, averaged across the full record (since 1940). Daylight is the time from sunrise to sunset. Record high/low are the most extreme values in the ERA5 dataset (modelled since 1940), so they can differ from official weather-station readings.
| Month | Avg high | Avg low | Rain | Rainy days | Daylight | Record high | Record low |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 62.8° | 45.3° | 4.0 in | 8 | 10.3 h | 83.2° (2022) | 5.7° (1949) |
| February | 66.1° | 48.3° | 3.4 in | 7 | 11.0 h | 86.8° (1986) | 9.0° (1951) |
| March | 72.2° | 54.2° | 3.5 in | 8 | 11.8 h | 90.0° (2013) | 22.2° (2002) |
| April | 78.2° | 61.2° | 3.9 in | 7 | 12.7 h | 93.7° (1963) | 33.8° (1987) |
| May | 84.2° | 68.2° | 4.4 in | 9 | 13.5 h | 97.5° (1998) | 44.1° (2013) |
| June | 89.2° | 73.6° | 4.1 in | 9 | 13.9 h | 105.9° (2013) | 54.9° (1984) |
| July | 91.1° | 75.1° | 3.8 in | 10 | 13.7 h | 103.8° (1998) | 62.6° (1967) |
| August | 91.6° | 74.8° | 3.7 in | 11 | 13.1 h | 107.5° (2023) | 60.1° (1949) |
| September | 87.5° | 70.8° | 4.4 in | 10 | 12.2 h | 107.6° (2000) | 48.6° (1967) |
| October | 81.1° | 62.1° | 3.4 in | 7 | 11.3 h | 96.0° (2024) | 31.8° (1993) |
| November | 71.7° | 53.5° | 3.9 in | 7 | 10.5 h | 88.8° (1988) | 25.8° (1951) |
| December | 65.3° | 47.8° | 3.9 in | 8 | 10.1 h | 83.7° (1956) | 8.9° (1989) |
How it's changed
Year-by-year signals from 1940 to today.Climate stripes
Annual mean shifted from 1940–1949 to 2016–2025 by +3.0°F.
Each vertical stripe is one year. Color encodes how much that year's annual mean differed from the long-term average. Average = each year's annual mean compared to the average of all years (1940–2026). cooler ← → warmer
Annual mean temperature
Long-term trend: +0.33°F per decade.
One point per year, showing the temperature averaged across the whole year. The dashed line is the least-squares long-term trend. Based on ERA5 reanalysis: modelled estimates, not station readings.
Seasonal warming
Mar–May is warming fastest: +0.42°F per decade.
Each faint line is one three-month period's average per year; the bold dashed line is its long-term trend. Different parts of the year often warm at different rates. Based on ERA5 reanalysis: modelled estimates, not station readings.
Hot days vs frost days
Days ≥ 86°F per year: 92.4 early in the record → 134.8 recently. Frost days: 6 → 6.
Thin lines are raw yearly counts; thick lines are the smoothed trend that removes year-to-year noise. The hot-day threshold is auto-picked per city so the line actually moves. Average = a centered 5-year rolling average to smooth weather noise.
Yearly hot & cold extremes
All-time high in 2000, all-time low in 1949: 107.6°F / 5.7°F.
One point per year: the single hottest and coldest day recorded that year.
Annual rainfall
~46.4 in/year on average. Last decade: +25% vs that average. Long-term trend: +1.16 in per decade.
One bar per year of total rainfall. Dashed line is the long-term average. Average = the average annual rainfall across every year of record (1940–2026).
Day-by-day grid
Each tiny square is one calendar day across the full record, about 30,000 days per city. Use the mode switch above the chart: Anomaly colors each day by how far it ran from the historical average for that date (red = warmer, blue = cooler), Daily mean temp shows the absolute mean temperature for the day (useful to see seasons and heatwaves), and Precipitation shows daily rainfall (useful to spot wet/dry seasons and droughts). Average = the long-term average for that calendar date (1940–2026).
Frequently asked questions about Houston
Which is the warmest month in Houston?
How does today's temperature in Houston compare to the historical average?
How much has Houston warmed since 1940?
How much does it rain in Houston?
What is the average temperature in Houston?
What are the average temperatures in Houston by month?
What is the weather like in Houston in summer?
What is the weather like in Houston in winter?
What is the weather like in Houston in spring?
What is the weather like in Houston in autumn?
How many days a year does it rain in Houston?
Weather in nearby cities
- Pearland74°/54°today−6.3°vs average
- Cypress73°/51°today−7.9°vs average
- Beaumont72°/47°today−6.1°vs average
- College Station69°/48°today−11.4°vs average
- Austin72°/49°today−8.7°vs average
- Round Rock71°/49°today−8.3°vs average
- Waco70°/48°today−9.9°vs average
- Killeen68°/49°today−10.8°vs average
- Tyler70°/45°today−7.8°vs average
- Corpus Christi75°/56°today−7.3°vs average