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Gusty winds knocked out power to thousands of customers and felled tree limbs before daybreak this morning across the Charlotte metro region.
The National Weather Service has issued a wind advisory until midnight for the Charlotte area, and forecasters say sustained winds of 25 mph and gusts above 40 mph are possible.
But the worst of the weather has moved east of the region, accompanying a cold front which eventually will bring clearer and drier conditions to the western Carolinas.
Strong winds ahead of the front pushed temperatures into the middle and upper 60s overnight in the Charlotte-Rock Hill-Gastonia-Monroe-Concord area. That is about 35 degrees above normal for overnight temperatures at this time of year. Meanwhile, areas to the north of a warm front -- such as Hickory and Statesville -- experienced overnight temperatures in the 40s.
A line of heavy showers and thunderstorms moved across the region between 5 a.m. and 7 a.m., accompanied by winds that gusted to 45 mph, forecasters said. The winds blew trash cans across roadways and knocked down numerous tree limbs.
The gusty winds also knocked out power. At 7:15 a.m., Duke Energy reported nearly 17,000 Carolinas customers without power, including almost 4,400 in Mecklenburg County. Crews worked throughout the morning, and by midday, about 5,700 outages were reported. Only 363 of those were in Mecklenburg County, mostly in the Matthews-Arboretum area.
Flickering power knocked out traffic signals over much of the region, including about a half-dozen signals in the South Boulevard corridor.
A few showers are possible today, with the gusty winds continuing. But partial clearing is forecast for tonight, with temperatures falling into the middle 30s by Thursday morning. More seasonal conditions, with highs in the low to mid 50s, are forecast for Thursday and Friday.
The advance outlook for Saturday night's Carolina Panthers' game against the Arizona Cardinals is for partly cloudy skies, temperatures in the lower 50s for the 8:15 p.m. kickoff, and a 30 percent chance of showers.
