Best time to visit Houston

Houston is a city of two halves. March scores 83 and August scores 36 — a 47-point swing, which is the difference between a holiday and an endurance test. The month you pick matters more here than almost anywhere. 6 of the twelve months sit within ten points of the best, so there is more than one right answer.

August is the warmest month at 35.2 °C and January the coolest at 16.5 °C — a 18.7 °C spread across the year. 144 days a year top 30 °C, more than a third of the calendar, so heat is the baseline here rather than a season. 11 nights a year dip below freezing.

There is a real wet season here. June to September carry the rain — up to 15 wet days in a month — while January, February, March, April, November and December drop as low as 8. That 7-day gap is the biggest single difference between a good month and a bad one in Houston, and it moves further than the temperature does.

Daylight runs from 10.2 hours in winter to 14 in summer, enough to notice on a sightseeing itinerary.

The three strongest months are March, April, November. The one to think twice about is August. Each month below has its own page with rainfall reliability, extremes, daylight and crowd levels.

Houston month by month