- Photos, videos | Heavy rain falls across the Houston area flooding roads, causing damage
- Tornadoes leave a trail of destruction in Oklahoma, communities begin to assess damage
- 'This is our life' | Sulphur, Oklahoma family reacts to losing everything in Saturday's deadly tornadoes
- Severe weather threat dwindles Sunday night
- Tornado Watch for Coastal Plains Sunday evening
More storms expected Sunday after severe storms spawn hail, tornado warnings, power outages
Raleigh, N.C. — Get prepared for a stormy weekend.
Severe storms moved across central NC on Saturday afternoon, spawning tornado warnings, pea-sized hail, power outages and lightning strikes.
Severe weather alerts in most western and central counties have been allowed to expire, but a few eastern counties remain under severe weather threats. All weather alerts can be found here.
The main threat was damaging wind gusts, which reached up to 60 mph. Pea-sized hail was seen falling in High Point, Durham, Chapel Hill and Raleigh. The heavy rain caused “white out conditions,” forcing drivers to be cautious on the roads.
The severe weather risk has been raised to Level 2 for much of central NC.
Greensboro currently has around 1,000 people without power, and Charlotte has around 4,000 without power. The Triangle has reported around 100 people without power. There are around 1,000 customers without power in the Triangle area. WRAL will be prepared to provide updates if more outages are reported.
WRAL cameras showed an ominous, dark shelf cloud moving across downtown Raleigh, as heavy storms moved through. Some WRAL viewers sent photos of eerie clouds, storm damage and hail in their areas.
Track rain with the DualDoppler5000.
People impacted by the passing storms shared photos of hail that fell in multiple counties around cental NC. A sizable amount of hail was shown on a highway near Greensboro.
A video showed hail falling in North Raleigh as well.
Other than the severe weather threat and rainy forecast, Saturday will be warm and overcast with a high in the 70s.
Sunday severe weather outlook
There is another high chance for rain on Sunday and a Level 2 risk for severe weather in the afternoon and evening. Temperatures will be in the 70s, but the humidity won’t be as high.
“It’s going to be windy at times,” Sheerwood said. “A few showers will be possible in the morning on Sunday, but we’re really watching the cold front off to the west for the afternoon.”
Sherwood says you need to be inside by the afternoon on Sunday as showers and storms develop. Damaging winds, isolated tornadoes and small hail will be possible. However, we won’t see much directional shear, which should keep the tornado risk low.
By Monday, temperatures will be slightly cooler, in the mid 60s.
The warmth over the next four days will be comparable to normal temperatures in the region for the end of May.
It may appear that springtime warmth is here to stay, but WRAL meteorologists recommend waiting to plant delicate flowers and other seasonal additions to gardens. The average final spring freeze usually occurs between April 1 and April 10 in the Triangle. The average date of the last hard freeze is anywhere from March 21 to March 31.
With springtime comes an increase in pollen and allergies, and the chances of feeling that impact across the region will increase as the week goes on.