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The Death Ridge breaks and rain finally returns

The Death Ridge breaks and rain finally returns
weathermodels.com

Last time we spoke the miserable heat wave that has now brought six consecutive days with temperatures at or above 100 degrees was just beginning. While Houston obviously gets hot, this stretch of consecutive days over 100 is fairly uncommon. As bad as the days have been the nights have actually been worse as the sustained daytime heat makes it harder for the air to cool off at night as heat absorbed by the ground, and particularly concrete, during the day continues to be released from the ground at night. I am happy to say though that it appears we are reaching the end of this particular hot streak. Congratulations, you survived.

The area of high pressure, also known as the "Death Ridge," is moving off to the west which will bring in a bit of a northerly wind flow and a weak front. I hesitate to call it a front as it won't change the air-mass much. Rather, it is more of a boundary that could provide a focusing mechanism for some rain. Today and tomorrow will bring us the best chance of rain we have seen in a while, which is sorely needed after the baking we have endured. While I don't think everyone will see rain the next couple of days there should at least be enough rain and clouds around to keep temperatures in the mid 90's instead of over 100.

Rain finally returns. Simulated radar this evening.weathermodels.com

Into the weekend rain chances will go down but not disappear entirely. Instead we will be going back to our more normal summer programming with a few afternoon storms here and there.

How Much More Summer:

Now that we are all thoroughly sick of the heat I decided to take a look to see what the averages say as to how much longer we have to go until things start cooling off. Looking at data from Hobby Airport compiled over the past 70 years I found the following:

  • Average date of last 95+ degree day: September 6th
  • Average date of last 90+ degree day: October 7th
  • Average first date with low temperature of 65 degrees or below: September 18th
  • Average first date with low temperature of 60 degrees or below: September 28th

Keep in mind that these dates are just averages, but it does show that we only have about a month to month and a half left of real summer misery. Yes, heat can sometimes last well into October, but the light is starting to appear at the end of this tunnel, just hold on a little longer.

Hurricane Season Update:

We are entering what is typically the peak of hurricane season but the Atlantic and Gulf are still dead. Part of this is because there is still a good amount of saharan dust out in the Atlantic, indicative of hot dry air in the upper atmosphere which inhibits any potential storm growth. The law of averages would say that things will get churning at some point in the Atlantic Basin over the next month or so but as of now the computer models are not sniffing anything out.

Oranges an reds indicate Saharan dust in the atmosphere over the Atlantic.CIMSS/Univ. Wisconsin

Mailbag:

Since the weather has been quite lately I am opening up the WeatherMap mailbag. Tweet any of your weather related questions to @stephenuzick.

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The Texans are the class of the division. Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images.

The Houston Texans received a lot of praise for their moves in free agency across various outlets. And for good reason, most people believe the team got significantly better with the additions of Danielle Hunter, Azeez Al-Shaair, and Denico Autry among others.

But there's another factor to consider this offseason. How much have the other teams in the AFC South improved?

When looking at the PFF grades in free agency, the Colts received a B-minus. Most of the Colts moves this offseason involved spending a lot of money re-signing their own players. Which is great in theory, but it's hard to improve the overall quality of your roster when you're bringing back players that were already there to begin with. A lot will be riding on player development for the Colts to see a big jump this season. A healthy quarterback wouldn't hurt either.

The Jaguars have made some big additions financially this offseason by signing receiver Gabe Davis and defensive tackle Arik Armstead. They also lost the top receiver on the market, Calvin Ridley, to the Titans. Gabe Davis wasn't able to establish himself as a reliable No. 2 receiver with Josh Allen throwing him the ball in Buffalo. So it's hard to believe he'll take the next step in Jacksonville. Their best move of the offseason might have been retaining edge rusher Josh Allen by using the franchise tag on him. So what did PFF think of Jacksonville's offseason? They received a B-minus, just like the Colts.

The Titans have a lot of turnover heading into the 2024 season, and not just on the roster. They have a new head coach in Brian Callahan, who's looking to revamp Tennessee's offense. Early in free agency, they agreed to terms with former Cowboys running back Tony Pollard, signing him to a 3-year deal at $8 million per season. Which is more money than the Ravens are paying for Derrick Henry, who left the Titans in free agency. Calvin Ridley was the most notable addition to the squad, he received a 4-year, $92 million deal. And while this could be viewed as an overpay, at least he gives the Titans' offense some upside. Their receiving corps looks a lot more dangerous with Ridley added to DeAndre Hopkins and Treylon Burks.

They also spent big at the center position, adding Lloyd Cushenberry on a 4-year, $50 million contract.

Because the Titans spent a lot of money on some highly coveted players, PFF gave them a B.

Now that brings us to the Texans. The Texans re-signed some of their own players like Dalton Schultz and Noah Brown. But they also made some big splashes with Hunter, Autry, Al-Shaair, and Joe Mixon. But the Texans spent their money in a more conservative way by not handing out many contracts over two years in length.

The Texans managed to add the best pass rusher in free agency with Hunter, but it's only a two-year deal. The overall talent level is going up on this roster, and GM Nick Caserio isn't having to sign players to long contracts that could come back and haunt him.

That's why we're seeing post-free agency power rankings coming out with Houston in the Top 10. And that's also why PFF gave the Texans an A for their moves in free agency.

Be sure to check out the video above as Craig from Sports Talk Extra takes an in-depth look at PFF's grades for the AFC South, and much more!

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