Heavy rain, damaging wind, possible floods head to Charlotte area. Here’s the latest

The Charlotte region and Upstate South Carolina are warned to expect possible flooding and damaging winds Thursday, as a front crosses the Carolinas, according to the National Weather Service.

At 11:05 a.m. Thursday, the National Weather Service issued a tornado warning for Charlotte, Concord and Gastonia, after radar confirmed “a tornado-producing storm” near Gastonia was moving east at 60 mph.

A tornado watch was put in effect for the region until 5 p.m. and a flash flood watch is in effect from 6 a.m. Thursday to midnight Friday, the NWS says. The tornado watch includes Mecklenburg, Gaston, Iredell and Union counties.

Forecasters expect the worst of the weather to move through Thursday evening. Most of the rain will fall Thursday, when NWS forecasters are calling for a 100 percent chance during the day and evening.

Rainfall amounts of 1.5 to more than 3 inches are possible Thursday, with wind gusts in the 25 mph range, with 4 inches in the mountains, the National Weather Service says. The wind speeds will increase the closer you get to the coast, with 30 to 40 mph gusts inland in eastern counties.

“Some of the thunderstorms could be strong to severe with damaging wind gusts, mainly along and south and east of Interstate 85,” the National Weather Service says.“

“It appears that the western Piedmont and Upstate SC will face a rapidly increasing flash flood threat from late morning Thursday onward, perhaps mid afternoon/early evening across the Charlotte metro area.”

The storms are connected to a strong cold front that will drop lows by 15 degrees from Thursday night to Friday night. However, temperatures will stay just above freezing, so ice and snow are not expected.

A flood has already been issued for the mountains and will likely expand to include the foothills and Piedmont, WBTV reported Wednesday.

This story was originally published February 5, 2020 at 5:29 AM.