Tornado watch issued for Charlotte, NC area as strong storms move in
Standing by right now with the latest on the storm. Meteorologist, Chris Mulcahy and KJ Jacobs. So Chris, let’s begin with you. Uh Where do things stand right now? Because these are the early hours of this. Yeah, this is just the beginning and this is brand new. We have a tornado watch that was just issued just about a minute ago and notice what it includes. Now, what we’ve really seen is Destiny and Richard were saying, hey, we haven’t seen that much rain across Charlotte. That’s not a good thing. You want the more rain because that gonna
stabilize things. But because we haven’t had that much rain, we kind of had a break. We’re seeing that unstable air that’s starting to nose into the area. So Gaston County, Mecklenburg County, Cabarrus up to Rowan and all surrounding counties down to the south. Currently under a tornado watch that goes until further notice, this will be done heading into the afternoon or the late afternoon. But we have that flood watch that is also in effect throughout the day. So we’re seeing flooding, we’re seeing significant amount of rain that’s coming with this system and already off towards
the west, we have seen a lot of activity so far so that storm system is starting to roll in. We’re expecting about another 1 to 2.5
a bow to this system that is representing that their stronger winds are right along the frontal edge and it’s right in the little kinks that are along this, that you could potentially have the possibility of a tornado kid. You’ll have more on that coming up. But the rain is also a big issue where we have flash flood warnings off towards the west. But the rain is also aiding the damage we could have from trees. We’ve already had reports of down trees. We’ve had uprooted trees is a good possibility for a couple of days in the
forecast that’s gonna come to fruition as those winds are starting to peak around 50 MPH outside of any severe thunderstorm warnings. And the reason why is a wet ground loosens the root system. So when we have those peak gusts anywhere from 40 to 60 MPH, trees are gonna come down, large limbs are gonna come down power lines and that’s why we’ve already had multiple people without power. I think the peak for Charlotte, as far as those winds are concerned, it’s really just a couple of hours for now. But one to three, that’s where we expect
that main line to roll on through peaks off for our eastern zones between about three and five o’clock. And then eventually this is going to be out of her hair. So let’s look at the timing one more time. Here’s two o’clock, you’re seeing that frontal edge. So all those severe thunderstorm warnings that are off towards the west, that’s gonna be right over Mecklenburg County. Really, between about one and two o’clock. It’s the frontal edge that’s going to have the strongest winds and even behind that, you’re still gonna have goss up to 45 MPH. So usually
when you have a storm system like this, you’ll have it pass and then you’re good. But the winds are still going to be quite gusty as long as we have that wind advisory in place until 10 p.m. Once it gets to you about the early evening, we’re good as far as rain goes. But still with those saturated soils, the winds behind that, we still have a chance for the damage. But KJ is gonna have a little bit more about the severe threat where KJ this is starting to expand, especially with that tornado watch, including the
Charlotte area. Absolutely, Chris. And as you just mentioned, timing is very critical with a system like this one and a good illustration of the strong wind gusts that we’re dealing with. And we’ll continue to deal with for this evening. This graphic here really paints the picture when the trash can is just blowing across the yard and eventually into your neighbor’s yard. When we’re talking about wind gusts at 40 to 60 miles an hour, but we can actually see damaging wind gusts and notice the map here as you see the area shaded in yellow, orange and
red. This is an indication that we could have significant wind gusts, especially the hatched areas where you see the black lines. This is an indicator especially south and east of Charlotte as the storm progresses into the early afternoon, then we can have the fuel to really start to mix in, mix down a lot of those strong winds down to the ground at the surface where weather happens where we live. Also added to that. We have the severe weather risk and notice we have the low and medium and high risk as well. So we’re really in
the th of the storm, it’s really going to pick up over the next few hours. So just be mindful and continue to stay weather aware. Uh Talking about that tornado watch that has been issued. Here’s why we now have that tornado watch in effect through this evening. Parts of the area, very small parts of the area just east of Charlotte will have the potential for significant risk of an EF two to ef five tornado within a 25 mile point. So just keep that in mind. So I really wanna walk you through this tornado parameter. Looking
the rotation here. Notice where you see the gray and the orange is showing up as that number gets closer to one. That’s a good indicator. When we look at that parameter and notice where we’re go, we’ll likely see that energy that will be uh east of I 77 likely and south of Charlotte. So this is going to move right along the South Carolina Piedmont over towards the sand hills. So that’s something we’ll continue to watch. But just know when it comes to severe weather, there’s no cut off point. And so we’re just kinda to watch
because there could be a little bit of bleed over when it comes to storm development and how they travel, how they move and where they go next. So with that in mind, have multiple ways of getting a notification here. So we wanna make sure you have our WCNC app. I wanna make sure you call a friend or a family member and make sure they are aware of the weather threats we have today, you got roof and seven forecast conditions will improve greatly by Wednesday and Thursday. But we do have another big chance of rain coming
up on Friday.
