- Southport hosts annual Hurricane Expo ahead of the 2024 season
- How to protect your car before a hailstorm
- ‘We lost everything’: East Texas residents confront their future after flooding
- Here's how to get your flooding debris picked up by the City of Houston
- Mosquito activity on the rise due to rainfall, flooding across Texas
FORECAST: Impacts across the area Friday from Hurricane Ian
WCNC Staff, Brad Panovich, Chris Mulcahy, Brittany Van Voorhees (WCNC), KJ Jacobs, Larry Sprinkle
12:41 PM EST March 6, 2019
6:13 AM EDT September 30, 2022
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Hurricane Ian
Ian is a Category 1 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 85 mph. The storm is located about 145 miles south-southeast of Charleston.
As the storm moves inland, the Charlotte area is under a Tropical Storm Warning until further notice with primary impacts Friday night through Saturday morning. Sustained winds will be sustained between 20 – 30 mph with gusts up to 60 mph. Rainfall totals will peak between 3 – 6 inches, with isolated higher amounts.
Friday
Regardless of when Ian arrives, tomorrow will be a raw day across the Carolinas. Expect cool temperatures, cloudy skies, gusty winds, and off and on rainfall. Highs will only peak in the mid-upper 50s across the region with widespread shower activity, although it won’t be heavy rain all day.
Again, conditions will be worse Friday night through Saturday morning. Highest wind gusts will near 60 mph with up to 6 inches of rain. This is a day to stay weather aware with possible flooding, downed trees and power outages. Stay tuned for updates!
Saturday and Sunday
A few showers will linger Saturday morning with gradual clearing throughout the morning. This is largely due to drier air on the back side of Ian keeping things less soggy this weekend. Winds will lighten, too, but expect the mostly cloudy sky to stick around.
Speaking of cloud cover, this will keep lows and highs stable this weekend – lows in the mid-50s and highs in the mid-60s. More peeks of sunshine should develop Sunday afternoon as the system fully exits the Carolinas.
Drought Monitor
As of September 29th, Charlotte is on day 17 with no measurable rainfall. Dry conditions have been consistent across both North and South Carolina, so it’s no surprise that drought conditions have worsened over the last week.
61% of North Carolina and 36% of South Carolina are under abnormally dry conditions (shaded in yellow). This is an increase of 28% and 24% respectively. Abnormally dry conditions are a precursor to moderate drought (shaded in light brown).