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Watch live: Brad Panovich tracks severe weather across the Carolinas
A line of storms capable of producing heavy rain, gusty winds and large hail is expected to impact the Charlotte area on Friday.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A Weather Impact Alert has been issued for Friday afternoon as a line of severe thunderstorms is expected to sweep across the Carolinas with the threat of bringing damaging winds and hail.
A tornado watch is in effect for Ashe and Watauga counties until 8 p.m.
A severe thunderstorm watch is in effect for most of the Charlotte area until 8 p.m. The severe thunderstorm watch impacts the following counties: Alexander, Burke, Cabarrus, Caldwell, Catawba, Chester, Chesterfield, Cleveland, Gaston, Iredell, Lancaster, Lincoln, Mecklenburg, Rowan, Union and York.
When
The WCNC Weather Impact Team expects the storms to push through the Charlotte area between 12 p.m. and 6 p.m. Storms will develop in the mountains closer to the beginning of that timeframe and are expected to move out of our area at the beginning of the evening commute. These storms will be flying and parts of the forming line of storms could be moving at 45 to over 55 mph.
“It moves pretty quickly,” Chief Meteorologist Brad Panovich said. “I mean, that’s one good thing about this, it moves in and out fairly quickly. So it’s going to be, boom, boom and done.”
Some isolated storms could linger into the late evening and overnight hours on Friday, but these will be clear from severe.
Impact
Panovich says the primary risks are currently hail and damaging winds, but you can’t rule out a spin-up tornado.
“This is typically a day we see a lot of significant severe weather,” Panovich said, describing the latest projection from the Storm Prediction Center. “So on a scale from 1 to 5, this is a 3. For us, this is like a 4. The high risk is there because of that. You see the red on the map? That’s a 30% chance of damaging straight-line winds.”
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Damaging wind gusts are the main concern, especially with bowing line segments.
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Isolated large hail is possible in areas with individual thunderstorms, especially if the storm is rotating (supercell). This threat is growing less likely west of I-77 now.
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The tornado risk is low, but a brief spin-up can’t be ruled out. The ends of a bow echo or kinks in a line of thunderstorms will have a chance for increased shear and could spawn a few Tornado Warnings.
What you need to stay safe
Contact Brad Panovich at bpanovich@wcnc.com or follow him on Facebook, X and Instagram.
Contact Bekah Birdsall at rbirdsall@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, X and Instagram.
Contact Chris Mulcahy at cmulcahy@wcnc.com and follow him on Facebook, X, Instagram and TikTok.
Contact Larry Sprinkle at lsprinkle@wcnc.com and follow him on Facebook, X and Instagram.
Contact Majestic Storm at majesticstorm@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, X and Instagram.
Contact Brittany Van Voorhees at bvanvoorhe@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, X and Instagram.