Raleigh North Carolina News

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) — The Carolina Hurricanes will face the New York Rangers in the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Game one will be in Raleigh on Wednesday at PNC Arena. Game time is at 7 p.m. Game two is taking place on Friday with the puck dropping at 8 p.m. The series then moves to New York for games three and four. Game three is Sunday at 3:30 p.m. and game four…

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) — The Loudest House in the NHL lived up to its billing Saturday afternoon, as 19,513 fans, the most ever for a Hurricanes home game, packed PNC Arena for the team’s pivotal Game 7. After a tightly-contested start, Carolina broke through with a Teuvo Teravainen goal with 1:24 minutes left in the first period, burying a pass from Jacob Slavin. To start the second, the Hurricanes failed to convert on a 4-minute…

BOSTON, MA — The Carolina Hurricanes beat the Boston Bruins 3-2 in game seven. The Canes will move ahead to the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs This is a breaking story. Check back for further game details shortly. -previous story- The players dream of it. The fans look forward to it. Game 7. And on Saturday, there will be three of them. The NHL is wrapping up the first round of the playoffs…

BOSTON — The Boston Bruins earned themselves a seventh game with another dominating performance at home. The problem: The clincher will be at Carolina, where the Hurricanes have been just as unbeatable. “Everybody loves a Game 7,” Boston coach Bruce Cassidy said after the Bruins won 5-2 on Thursday night to even their first-round playoff series against Carolina at three games apiece. “We’d rather be at home, I’m not going to lie to you. “But…

By Chelsea Donovan, WRAL reporter Raleigh, N.C. — Dozens of Carolina Hurricanes fans have taken to social media in an uproar, with many saying they caught COVID after attending last week’s playoff games, which were packed with at least 20,000 screaming fans. Masks are considered optional inside the PNC Arena. One woman posted on Twitter that she, her husband, and at least 12 other people came down with COVID after attending the game. Travis O’Neal,…

RALEIGH, N.C. — The Carolina Hurricanes took a 3-2 lead in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs with a dismantling of the Boston Bruins. The Canes returned to Raleigh after dropping the last two games in Boston. The power of home ice seemed to be just what the doctor ordered for Carolina. On offense and defense, the Hurricanes looks completely dominant on all aspects of the game. The team took an early 2-0…

By Mike Maze, WRAL meteorologist Is the 2022 hurricane season going to be off to an early start just like it has over the past seven years? The odds are in favor that. Even though hurricane season officially begins on June 1, we could see our first named storm this month. We already have our eyes on two weak systems, one off the southeast coast and another weak wave off the coast of Africa. The National…

By CEDAR ATTANASIO and BRIAN MELLEY, Associated Press LAS VEGAS, N.M. — With the worst of the thick wildfire smoke having blown out of town, residents of this small northern New Mexico city tried to recapture a sense of normalcy Saturday as their rural neighbors hunkered down amid predictions of extreme fire conditions. Shops and restaurants reopened, the historic center was no longer just populated by firefighters, but there was a widely felt sense of…

By Cory Dinkel, WRAL multiplatform producer and Leslie Moreno, WRAL multimedia journalist Mebane, N.C. — Severe storms, including an EF1 tornado in Orange County, caused damage Friday evening across central North Carolina. Three buildings in Orange County sustained damage from heavy winds that could have been the result of a tornado, according to Orange County leaders. While it is not a confirmed tornado by the NWS, Orange County Emergency Services Director Kirby Saunders said several…

By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN, Associated Press Weather conditions described as potentially historic were on tap for New Mexico on Saturday and for the next several days as hundreds of firefighters and a fleet of airplanes and helicopters worked feverishly to bolster lines around the largest fire burning in the U.S. Many families already have been left homeless and thousands of residents have evacuated due to flames that have charred large swaths of the Sangre de…

By Cory Dinkel, WRAL multiplatform producer and Leslie Moreno, WRAL multimedia journalist Mebane, N.C. — Severe storms, including a tornado in Orange County, caused damage Friday evening across central North Carolina. Three buildings in Orange County sustained damage from heavy winds that could have been the result of a tornado, according to Orange County leaders. While it is not a confirmed tornado by the NWS, Orange County Emergency Services Director Kirby Saunders said several callers…

By Cory Dinkel, WRAL multiplatform producer Severe storms, including a possible tornado in Orange County, caused damage across central North Carolina Friday evening. Three buildings in Orange County sustained damage from heavy winds that could have been the result of a tornado, according to Orange County officials. While it is not a confirmed tornado, Orange County Emergency Services Director Kirby Saunders said several callers to 911 reported seeing a funnel cloud. WRAL’s Mike Maze also…

By Cory Dinkel, WRAL multiplatform producer Severe storms, including a possible tornado in Orange County, caused damage across central North Carolina Friday evening. Three buildings in Orange County sustained damage from heavy winds that could have been the result of a tornado, according to Orange County officials. While it is not a confirmed tornado, Orange County Emergency Services Director Kirby Saunders said several callers to 911 reported seeing a funnel cloud. WRAL’s Mike Maze also…

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) — The risk for severe weather Friday has increased to a level 3 of 5 and includes a chance for isolated tornadoes. Damaging winds are the threat most likely to accompany storms in this system. Those winds could gust up above 58 miles per hour. In addition, conditions have increased the chance that hail and tornadoes could develop. Those risks are higher in the northern part of central North Carolina, extending down…

By The Associated Press EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. — The mother of a man who was killed in December when a tornado slammed into an Amazon facility in Illinois said on Tuesday that her son was only in the building because he was called into work on his day off. “It breaks my heart that DeAndre was scheduled to take his day off but was called from dispatch to work an extra shift,” said Deon January, the…

By CEDAR ATTANASIO and SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN, Associated Press LAS VEGAS, N.M. — Wind-whipped flames raced across more of New Mexico’s pine-covered mountainsides on Monday, closing in on a town of 13,000 people where some residents hurried to pack their cars with belongings, others hustled to clear brush from around their homes, and police were called in to help evacuate the state’s psychiatric hospital. Firefighting crews battled on several fronts to keep the fire, the…

WICHITA, Kansas — A tornado that barreled through parts of Kansas destroyed or damaged hundreds of homes and buildings, injured several people and left more than 15,000 people without power, officials said Saturday. In addition to wreckage from the tornado itself, three University of Oklahoma meteorology students traveling back from storm chasing in Kansas were also killed in a crash Friday evening, according to officials. Nicholas Nair, 20, of Denton, Texas; Gavin Short, 19, of…

It’s Hurricane Preparedness Week and that means it’s time to assemble your emergency kit. It should include enough food and water to get you through seven days. It should also include a first aid kit, a weather radio with batteries in case the power goes out and any medicines you may need. SEE ALSO: What is in Big Weather’s hurricane emergency kit Having some cash on hand will also be helpful if ATMs and credit…

The Carolina Hurricanes start their quest for the Stanley Cup on Monday night in Raleigh. They will be taking on the Boston Bruins in the first round of the playoffs. In all three regular season meetings, the Canes came out on top outscoring the Bruins 16-1. Coach Rob Brind’Amour said the key to the series will come down to execution. Rookie standout Sebastian Aho said it’s going to be a hard battle but just like…

By The Associated Press WICHITA, Kan. — The tornado that damaged more than more than 1,000 buildings in south-central Kansas generated winds up to 165 mph and carved a path of destruction nearly 13 miles long. The National Weather Service said the tornado that caused extensive damage Friday mostly in the Wichita suburb of Andover and injured several people rated an EF-3 on the Enhanced Fujita scale it uses to assess tornadoes. Andover Fire Chief…

By Brian Shrader, WRAL anchor/reporter Raleigh, N.C. — North Carolina is no stranger to tornado danger. A quick tornado spawned from a band of storms March 31, bringing 100-mile-per-hour winds to Research Triangle Park. The storm damaged the roof of Pfizer’s office building and took down trees. No one was hurt, but the storm reminded the Triangle of the severe weather threats we face. Most tornadoes in the United States form in isolated storms called…

By The Associated Press CAMBRIDGE, Neb. — Wind-driven wildfires sweeping through parts of Nebraska killed a retired fire chief and injured at least 15 firefighters, authorities said Sunday. The man who died Friday night was a retired Cambridge fire chief who was working with firefighters as a spotter in Red Willow County in the southwestern corner of the state. That fire had burned more than 78 square miles (202 square kilometers) in Red Willow, Furnas…

By The Associated Press SANTA FE, N.M. — New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has signed emergency declarations as 20 wildfires continued to burn Sunday in nearly half of the state’s drought-stricken 33 counties. One wildfire in northern New Mexico that started April 6 merged with a newer fire Saturday to form the largest blaze in the state, leading to widespread evacuations in Mora and San Miguel counties. That fire was at 84 square miles…

By ADRIAN SAINZ and BRUCE SCHREINER, Associated Press MAYFIELD, Ky. — Sundays at the Bullock home in rural Kentucky were filled with lasting memories: big family dinners, cornhole, basketball and karaoke. Those gatherings ended the night of Dec. 10, when a massive tornado obliterated their Dawson Springs house, trapping Chris Bullock, 17-year-old son Stevie and miniature poodle Dewey under a crumbled brick wall in the basement. Her husband pulled them from the rubble with minor…

By FELICIA FONSECA and SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN, Associated Press FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — Destructive fires in the U.S. Southwest have burned dozens of homes in northern Arizona and put numerous small villages in New Mexico in the path of danger, as wind-fueled flames chewed up wide swaths of tinder dry forest and grassland and plumes of smoke filled the sky. “It’s a very chaotic situation out there,” Stewart Turner, a fire behavior analyst, said during a…

By Aimee Wilmoth, WRAL weather executive producer The rainfall from the most active hurricane season on record was made worse due to our climate in crisis, according to new research. The 2020 hurricane season included an unprecedented 30 named storms, of which 11 of those made landfall in the United States. New research published in the journal of Nature Communications found that three-hour tropical rainfall totals were up to 10% higher when compared to tropical…

By FELICIA FONSECA, Associated Press FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — Fire managers across the Southwest are reckoning with strong winds that forecasters say could lead to explosive growth in wildfires this week. Hundreds of people were evacuated in numerous blazes that have scorched structures and signaled an early start to the fire season. A wildfire on the outskirts of Flagstaff continued its run Wednesday though dry grass and scattered Ponderosa pines around homes into volcanic cinder fields,…

By Kat Campbell, WRAL meteorologist Raleigh, N.C. — North Carolina State University researchers are forecasting a busy Atlantic hurricane season that starts next month. In research published on Wednesday, NC State researchers are forecasting an above-normal season with the possibility of 17 to 21 named storms, 7 to 9 hurricanes and 3 to 5 major hurricanes. Dr. Xie was one of my professors when I studied meteorology at NC State. He evaluates sea-surface temperatures, hurricane…

By The Associated Press EUTAW, Ala. — Only 7,600 or so people live in impoverished Greene County, and hundreds of them are clustered in a public housing community called Branch Heights. Officials are now trying to find housing for more than 100 residents who were displaced when a tornado hit the neighborhood late Wednesday. The hunt is complicated by the fact that the rural area, located about 90 miles (145 kilometers) southwest of Birmingham, doesn’t…

By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN, Associated Press With towering pine trees and cool mountain breezes, a pocket of southern New Mexico draws thousands of tourists and horse racing fans every summer. It’s also a community that knows how devastating wildfire can be. It was a decade ago that fire ripped through part of the village of Ruidoso, putting the vacation spot on the map with the most destructive wildfire in New Mexico’s recorded history when more…

By Keenan Willard WRAL eastern North Carolina reporter The latest report on this year’s hurricane season predicts another above-average number of storms will form in the Atlantic Ocean. Experts in North Carolina say the report comes as climate change is creating more powerful hurricanes, and making their behavior more dangerous as well. One of the first reports on the 2022 hurricane season has been released by Colorado State University. Researchers expect 19 named storms and…

By WRAL Severe Weather Center Raleigh, N.C. — It will be another warm day in central North Carolina with temperatures reaching the low to mid 80s on Wednesday. After a mostly cloudy day on Wednesday, storms are possible on Thursday with parts of central North Carolina under a Level 1 risk for severe weather. The storms are coming from a system that will likely produce rounds of severe storms across Texas, Nebraska, Iowa and Kansas…

Hundreds of millions of dollars in Hurricane Florence relief funds were distributed in North Carolina without the intended oversight in place, according to a report from N.C. Office of the State Auditor. The report said the state Department of Public Safety distributed more than $500 million from that fund with limited monitoring procedures. Another $783 million was distributed without making sure recipients could measure the results. The report said DPS required recovery fund recipients to submit monthly…

By SETH BORENSTEIN, AP Science Writer Climate change made the record-smashing deadly 2020 Atlantic hurricane season noticeably wetter, a new study says. And it will likely make this season rainier, too, scientists said. Human-caused climate change made the entire season — 30 named storms — drop 5% more rain. During the 14 storms that reached hurricane status the rainfall was 8% heavier, according to the study in Tuesday’s Nature Communications. “It doesn’t sound like a…

By The Associated Press EDISON, Neb. — A wildfire in southern Nebraska fueled by dry conditions and strong winds forced the evacuation of the small village of Edison, destroyed several homes and factored into the death of a rural fire chief who was killed in a crash while responding to the blaze. The Nebraska State Patrol called for a mandatory evacuation Thursday night of the Furnas County community of about 130 people about 187 miles…

Expect an above-average Atlantic hurricane season this year, Colorado State University meteorologist Philip Klotzbach said Thursday. Klotzbach and the university released their annual outlook, which is calling for 19 named storms, nine hurricanes and four major hurricanes. The reasons for the above-average forecast include the lack of El Nino and warmer than normal subtropical Atlantic temperatures. El Nino, Klotzbach explained in a tweet, generally increases vertical wind shear in the Atlantic, tearing apart hurricanes. One…

By WRAL Severe Weather Center Raleigh, N.C. — The threat of severe weather has passed in North Carolina Thursday evening. After several watches and warnings Thursday in the afternoon and early evening, all alerts have expired into the evening. A lightning strike in Johnston County caused a house fire Thursday evening. While authorities say the family was home when the strike happened, no one was injured in the fire. Hail was reported in Rocky Mount…

By WRAL Severe Weather Center Raleigh, N.C. — Level 1 and Level 2 risks for severe weather are in place across North Carolina for Thursday afternoon and evening. A Tornado Warning initially in effect for Wayne County was canceled shortly after. The Tornado Watch in central North Carolina was canceled earlier Monday evening. Edgecombe, Halifax, Johnston, Nash, Wayne and Wilson counties are still currently under a Tornado Watch until 9 p.m. A Severe Thunderstorm Watch…

By WRAL Severe Weather Center Raleigh, N.C. — Level 1 and Level 2 risks for severe weather are in place across North Carolina for Thursday afternoon and evening. A Tornado Warning has gone into effect for Wayne County until 7 p.m. Thursday. The Tornado Watch in central North Carolina was canceled earlier Monday evening. Edgecombe, Halifax, Johnston, Nash, Wayne and Wilson counties are still currently under a Tornado Watch until 9 p.m. A Severe Thunderstorm…

By WRAL Severe Weather Center Raleigh, N.C. — Level 1 and Level 2 risks for severe weather are in place across North Carolina for Thursday afternoon and evening. A Tornado Watch has been issued until 9 PM. Storms were firing up on the DualDoppler5000 Thursday afternoon radar. Durham, Edgecombe, Franklin, Johnston and Wake counties are among the over 30 counties currently under the watch. The watch which contains parts central North Carolina and all the…

By Zach Maloch, WRAL meteorologist June 1, the start of the 2022 Atlantic hurricane season is 55 days away and we are already getting the first extended range forecast for the season to come. Colorado State University releases one such forecast that helps breakdown what to expect. After seeing six straight hurricane seasons with above-normal activity (2016 – 2021) you would think we’d get a break, but that does not look to be the case….

By WRAL Severe Weather Center Raleigh, N.C. — Level 1 and Level 2 risks for severe weather are in place across North Carolina for Thursday afternoon and evening, but the first half of the day will be mostly quiet. Rain was moving into Wake County at 7 a.m., and scattered showers will be likely throughout the morning. Isolated storms will be possible before noon, but the bulk of the activity will come after lunchtime. “We’ll…

By The Associated Press PEMBROKE, Ga. — Southerners were clearing trees from roads and buildings, but the threat of more severe weather Wednesday in Georgia was complicating recovery efforts. In Bryan County, Georgia, officials were urging residents to halt any cleanup work by mid-afternoon Wednesday and take shelter for the night as new storms began forming in west Georgia, and in parts of Alabama and Mississippi. Tuesday’s storms killed at least two people — one…

By WRAL Severe Weather Center Raleigh, N.C. — There is a Level 1 risk for severe weather for Wake County and areas south and heavy rain is expected until around 10 p.m. Communities south and east of Fayetteville are under a Level 2 risk for severe storms. The greatest threat for severe weather is along the North Carolina-South Carolina border and along the coast. A flood advisory was issued on Tuesday night for Alamance, Durham,…

By WRAL Severe Weather Center Raleigh, N.C. — There is a Level 1 risk for severe weather for Wake County and areas south and heavy rain is expected until the sun goes down. Communities south and east of Fayetteville are under a Level 2 risk for severe storms. The greatest threat for severe weather is along the North Carolina-South Carolina border and along the coast. There is a chance for damaging winds and heavy rain…

By WRAL Severe Weather Center Raleigh, N.C. — There is a Level 1 risk for severe weather for Wake County and areas south and heavy rain is expected during the evening. Communities south and east of Fayetteville are under a Level 2 risk for severe storms. Starting at around 7 p.m., there is a chance for damaging winds and heavy rain in central North Carolina. Weather conditions do favor a tornado, but WRAL meteorologist Brian…

By Eric Miller, WRAL multimedia journalist Raleigh, N.C. — The National Weather Service on Friday confirmed an EF-1 tornado touched down in southeastern Durham County near the RTP during Thursday’s severe storms. Winds ripped the roof off of Pfizer’s office building in the Research Triangle Park. Although 100 mph winds were detected, Durham Division Chief Jim Cole said no one inside the building was hurt. “There’s no structural damage at all,” said Cole. “It could…

DURHAM, N.C. (WTVD) — The National Weather Service confirmed a tornado touched down in the Triangle on Thursday. The twister caused high winds that damaged the new Pfizer building on Shiloh Glenn Drive just west of Raleigh-Durham International Airport. The storm survey team determined the tornado had EF-1 strength. However, it’s unclear at this time how long it remained on the ground. More details are expected later Friday. The NWS Raleigh storm survey team near…

By Eric Miller, WRAL multimedia journalist Raleigh, N.C. — The National Weather Service on Friday confirmed an EF-1 tornado touched down in southeastern Durham County near RTP during Thursday’s severe storms. Strong winds and heavy rain caused damage and crashes across the Triangle on Thursday afternoon. Dozens of crashes were reported as people rushed to get home while the storm pelted across the Triangle. US-264 near Lizard Lick Road was closed after a truck overturned….