Tornado watch issued for counties north of Houston-area

HOUSTON - The National Weather Service has issued a tornado watch for several counties north of the Houston area.

The watch is in effect for the following counties: Grimes, Montgomery, Polk, San Jacinto, Walker, and Washington.

The watch is in effect until midnight Saturday morning.

Warm, windy, cloudy with temps in the 80s this Friday evening

Our severe storm threat remains elevated across SE Texas through the rest of today and especially tonight. Most of the area remains under a Category 2 out of 5 threat for severe weather with a higher Category 3 out of 5 risk in our northern communities. Between now and 7 p.m., there will be a threat for a few supercell storms that could produce damaging winds or a brief tornado. Then I expect a line of storms to develop that will roll through between 9 p.m. and 2 a.m. Saturday. Damaging winds 58+ MPH will be possible with this line. So make sure you have the FOX 26 Weather app downloaded and have the alerts for your area turned on. Weather calms down for World Series Game 6 Saturday evening with no rain expected downtown. Election Day Tuesday also looks quiet.

A line of strong to severe storms, with the primary threat being straight-line damaging winds looking to arrive in our northern counties by late Friday evening and the Houston-metro area around midnight until eventually pushing offshore pre-dawn.