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A vigorous low pressure system is forming in the Gulf of Mexico today and is expected to produce a variety of nasty weather across the Charlotte metro region Wednesday.
A flash flood watch has been issued for the Charlotte metro region for Wednesday, and forecasters say severe thunderstorms are possible late Wednesday afternoon and evening in the eastern and central Carolinas -- possibly reaching the Charlotte area.
And if all that isn't enough, meteorologists say another storm system could bring light snow to the North Carolina mountains and a rain-snow mix to the foothills and possibly the Piedmont late Friday and Saturday.
The arrival of bad weather was preceded by quiet weather today.
After a chilly start -- with a morning low of 28 degrees at Charlotte/Douglas International Airport -- temperatures rebounded nicely during the day under mostly sunny skies, with highs approaching 60 degrees.
But high clouds are starting to move into the area, in advance of the strong low pressure system expected to move from the Gulf of Mexico across Alabama, Georgia and eastern Tennessee on Wednesday. Rain from that system is forecast to reach the Charlotte area by daybreak Wednesday, then become heavier as the day goes on.
Rodney Hinson, of the National Weather Service, said between 2 and 4 inches of rain are expected to fall in the Piedmont and foothills Wednesday.
"This amount of precipitation in that short of a time will likely produce flash flooding across the area," Hinson said.
He said small creeks and streams could overflow their banks by later in the afternoon and evening, and flooding in urban areas with poor drainage also is possible.
By late afternoon, forecasters say, conditions could become tricky.
A warm front is expected to move inland from the coast, as the center of the low pressure system crosses Georgia into Tennessee. Severe weather -- in the form of thunderstorms and possible tornadoes -- is expected in areas where the warm front crosses. Some of the Weather Service's computers predict the warm front will move as far inland as the Interstate 85 corridor, but other computers predict it will remain closer to the coast.
"The severe potential will be highest along and south of the warm front," Hinson said. "But the exact location of this boundary is still in question."
The rain is expected to end late Wednesday night or early Thursday, followed by calmer conditions Thursday.
Then comes the next tricky part of the forecast -- Friday and Saturday.
National Weather Service forecasters predict chilly weather early in the weekend, and they are trying to make heads or tails of computer-generated forecasts that indicate a fast-moving low pressure system will cross the region late Friday and Saturday. Those forecasts predict snow or a snow-rain mix.
But forecasters are spending most of their attention on the Wednesday storm system, for now. They expect a clearer picture of the weekend situation in another day or two.
