Why we love to hate High Pressure

Summer weather blog #1

Why we love to hate High Pressure in the summer?
This week we have set a record high temperature here in Houston just about every day. The hottest day in June ever was 104 degrees set this week.

Why?
A summer high pressure system developed over the area in early June and has brought with it relentless heat.
When you watch the weather forecast the High pressure is the big H on the map. Low pressure is the big L on the map. If you watch the weather in Spanish then you get a A(ALTO) B(BAJA)

During the winter time High pressure system will bring calm winds, bright sunny days, and cool/cold nights.

Now during the summer time this all gets a little more interesting. This is where the love and hate relationship comes into play. High pressure in the summer time brings with it Hot days,calm winds, unhealthy air quality, and warm nights. The winds around the High rotate clockwise. If there is a High pressure system located to the West of us we will get North or Northeast winds. If a High pressure is located to the East of us we will get winds from the South or East. If a high pressure system is located directly on top of us the winds will then be light and variable. This would lead to hot days with excessive ozone.

When we have a tropical system in the Gulf of Mexico it's usually going to go around the High pressure system. So, in the worse case scenario you would want the High pressure system to be directly on top of us or to the West. The winds would steer the storm away from Houston.

If you remember the days prior to Hurricane Rita it was very hot and dry. People who decided to leave the city were stuck in overheating buses. The days before the storm there was not a cloud in the sky. In this care High pressure was off to the East of us. The storm followed the winds around the high. If the high would have been a little weaker or a little more to the East Houston would have suffered a more direct hit than with Hurricane Ike. With Hurricane Ike the high and a meandering cold front to the North brought the storm directly up Galveston Bay.

So when tracking tropical systems in the Gulf always look for the High pressure or the Cold front. If there is a high pressure system directly over us like right now the storms will not come this way. If the High is to the East or there is a cold front splitting the country in half it's possible depending on the location of the storm that we will need to watch out. So, we shouldn't worry about whatever is down there in the Yucatan.