Houston weather: Next cold front arrives Tuesday; chance for storms

HOUSTON - Yet another cold front is expected Tuesday, bringing with it about a 40% chance of showers and storms, but finally some cooler fall temperatures.

Timeline:

We are under a low 1 out of 5 risk for a few strong to severe storms on Tuesday, mainly between 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.

Brief strong wind gusts from 50 to 60 miles per hour along with some hail will be possible as well as some brief heavy downpours.

Temperatures will soar to near 90 ahead of this front Tuesday afternoon.

Much cooler Wednesday, high fire danger

Temperatures Wednesday will be almost 20° cooler compared to Tuesday with highs not getting out of the 60s for most locations.  But it will also be windy with gusts near 30 miles per hour and very dry. 

That will lead to a higher fire danger Wednesday and a Fire Weather Watch has been issued for Wharton, Matagorda, Colorado and Jackson counties. 

There is a good chance that we'll have lows in the 50s and possibly even some 40s on Thursday and Friday morning.

For now, Halloween is shaping up to be cooler and dry with some of the coolest low temperatures since early April.

Dangerous hurricane threat in Caribbean

Melissa is now a dangerous category 5 major hurricane. Melissa is expected to make landfall in Jamaica early tomorrow morning as a category 5, something no hurricane has done in Jamaican history. The slow movement of this storm will cause flooding to Jamaica along with extreme prolonged winds. Jamaica could be in for catastrophic flooding with up to 3 feet of rain and storm surge up to 13 feet east of the center at landfall. Melissa is then expected to roll over eastern Cuba late Tuesday into early Wednesday, still maintaining that major hurricane status.  Then it will quickly move over the Southeastern Bahamas Wednesday before reaching Bermuda Thursday evening. Hurricane Melissa is no threat to the United States.