Central NC under slight risk for severe weather on Wednesday, strong to severe storms possible

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) — It’s that time of year. Though severe storms can happen any time of the year, April is when our severe season really starts to ramp up.

Over the last two days, our viewing area has been under a Marginal, or Category 1 of 5, risk for severe storms. Today, it’s increased to a Category 2 (Slight) risk,

First the timing…according to the NWS in Raleigh, those storms could fire anytime between 2 p.m. and 9 p.m. Here’s what one of the models we use at ABC11 is showing.

This model is called the HRRR (High Resolution-Rapid Refresh) and it updates several times a day, based on new data being ingested into the model. But as of 10 a.m. this morning, this is what it looked like with the possible timing between 5 p.m. and 9 a.m. tonight. It certainly could change throughout the day.

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You just want to make sure you are weather-aware anytime this afternoon and evening.

Though we are in the slight risk area, there is actually a higher risk to our North and West through the Ohio Valley. As a matter of fact, over 80 million Americans are under a severe threat today.

Chief Meteorologist Chris Hohmann and Meteorologist Brittany Bell will be watching all afternoon and will First Alert you to any warnings that are issued. By the way, there is a Category 1 (Marginal) risk for Thursday as well. Stay tuned…