Tornado possible as volatile cold front reaches North Carolina. Here’s the latest

A storm front will barrel through North Carolina this weekend, and it could dump inches of rain in isolated areas and even bring a tornado to Charlotte and areas to the west, forecasters say.

The National Weather Service predicts it’s the start of a lengthy stretch of rainy days, with a 40 to 90 percent chance of rain every day into Wednesday.

“A line of heavy rain showers with embedded thunderstorms is expected to cross the area Saturday night,” the National Weather Service says. “Isolated damaging winds and perhaps a brief tornado will be possible during that time.”

The worst of the weather will hit between 1 a.m. and 4 a.m. Sunday, with rain and wind gusts of up to 22 mph.

Most of the region will see only about a quarter of an inch of rain, but “rainfall will likely reach 2 to 3 inches across portions of the southern Blue Ridge escarpment” by Sunday night, NWS forecasters expect.

“The front will sweep east of the forecast area by daybreak Sunday, leaving much of the area dry and in fact mostly sunny,” NWS forecasters report.

“Enjoy it. Sunshine is going to be a rarity around here for the next week or so.”

Rain chances Monday and Tuesday are 70 percent, with the rain chance easing to 30 percent by early Wednesday, forecasters say.

Temperatures will remain above freezing throughout the period, with lows in the 50s and highs in the mid to upper 60s, the NWS says.

This story was originally published January 10, 2020 at 9:22 AM.