Strong storms moved across the state Thursday and Friday morning, bringing chances of large hail, damaging winds, and tornadoes.

What You Need To Know

  • We ranged from a marginal risk to moderate risk of severe weather on Thursday and Friday

  • All forms of severe weather, including tornadoes, were possible

  • The weekend will look a lot different from the end of the week

The storms started very early in the morning on Thursday in western North Carolina. Luckily, we only saw hail reports of 1 inch in northwestern North Carolina.

Through the morning, the storms tracked east, and once we got into the afternoon, more of the state saw showers and thunderstorms.

Charlotte received these storms by the afternoon/early evening. From around 4-8 p.m., areas like Greensboro, Raleigh, and the coast saw strong to severe storms.


Most of our storm reports were for damaging winds that led to downed trees and power lines and structural damage to houses.

The NWS confirmed three tornadoes in central NC. The first occurred in Guilford County, NC, just 2 miles northwest of Archdale. It was rated an EF0 and was on the ground for less than 5 minutes.

The second was in Guilford and Alamance Counties, rated an EF1 with winds at 100 mph.

Last, an EF1 tornado moved through Orange County around 6:04 p.m. Winds were at 100 mph, and it was on the ground for over 4 miles.

Luckily there were no injuries or deaths in NC.

What to Expect

The weekend looks much different than the past two days, with sunny conditions taking over across the state and temperatures warming into the 50s and 60s.

The exception will be the coast, where we will see showers linger through the weekend and into next week.

As we head further into the part of the year that brings severe weather, remember to always have multiple ways of getting weather information, including Spectrum News 1. Here are some tips to properly prepare before severe storms strike.