- What ignited the deadly California wildfires? Investigators consider an array of possibilities.
- ‘PDS’ warnings were made to grab attention in tornadoes, hurricanes, and now wildfires
- Mexico sends firefighters to aid in fight against Los Angeles wildfires
- Bexar County crews send resources to assist efforts to combat wildfire scorching South California
- Mexico sends firefighters to aid in fight against Los Angeles wildfires
Tornado Watch issued ahead of Friday evening storms
Friday is a day to be Weather Aware because scattered storms could bring damaging winds or an isolated tornado. The risk is not widespread.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A tornado watch has been issued for portions of North Carolina and South Carolina ahead of the potential for severe weather Friday evening.
The National Weather Service issued the tornado watch, which means conditions are right for the possibility of tornadoes, for upstate South Carolina and western North Carolina, including the counties of Avery, Burke, Caldwell and Cleveland.
A tornado watch is typically issued in the hours ahead of a severe weather potential. The watch will carry through the severe weather and the National Weather Service will issue localized tornado warnings when a tornado could be occurring in a particular location.
The chance for severe storms Friday evening has the WCNC Charlotte weather team encouraging you to be Weather Aware.
A few of the scattered storms have the potential to produce gusty winds and an isolated tornado in addition to heavy rain.
The biggest threat will basically be west of Interstate 77, according to WCNC Charlotte’s Larry Sprinkle. Areas at the highest risk in the Charlotte area include Alexander, Burke, Caldwell, Catawba, Cleveland, Gaston, Iredell, Lincoln, Mecklenburg and Watauga.
After the storms move through the western North Carolina mountains, a few of the storms are expected to move through the Charlotte metro and the Interstate 77 corridor around 8 p.m.
“If you just draw a line from Interstate 77 west, that’s where I think we’re going to see the most severe weather potential,” Sprinkle said. “The chance of some very, very high winds, gusty winds over 50 mph, a lot of lightning and the potential for a spin-up tornado, as well.”
The best chance for seeing storms is after 4 p.m. Friday and the threat diminishes before midnight. Sprinkle said we can expect the first storms to impact the foothills and mountains of North Carolina along Interstate 40.
“All the way from Morganton into the mountains and then that line of storms will start to track into the Charlotte area,” he said. “From Greensboro to Salisbury and across the Charlotte area around 7 p.m.”
The severe weather threat is being fueled by a cold front. A line of storms – often called a squall line – could move through the region assuming the line doesn’t weaken and fall apart before arriving in Charlotte. Out ahead of the main line, a few scattered storms – which have the potential to be what’s called supercells – could rise to the level of producing severe weather. By definition, a severe thunderstorm is any storm producing at least 60 mph winds, one-inch size hail, or a tornado.
“Now there’s ingredients for these storms to become severe … I just think there’s going to be very few of them,” Panovich said Thursday. “Which means the opportunity for one or two being severe is still there. But it’s not going to be widespread.”
The severe weather threat Friday expands beyond the Carolinas into portions of Georgia and Virginia. Earlier in the week, severe weather impacted portions of the Deep South including Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi and Arkansas.
“So don’t expect widespread storms,” Panovich said. “In fact, there might be less rain [Friday] than what we saw [Thursday] and during the day, but the storms that get going – specially if they can organize at all, which means get into a line or get into individual cells – could potentially be severe.”
You can get severe weather alerts delivered right to your phone with the WCNC Charlotte app. In the event of severe weather, WCNC Charlotte will have streaming updates on WCNC+, which can be streamed for free on WCNC.com, the phone app along with apps for Roku and Amazon Fire. All of WCNC Charotte’s apps are available as free downloads from the app store.