More storms headed toward Charlotte. But there’s good news for Memorial Day weekend
Charlotte’s relentless rains that kept the region under a flash flood watch Thursday should finally ease over the Memorial Day weekend, with mostly sunny skies and temps forecast in the low to mid-80s, according to the National Weather Service.
At least 5 inches of rain have fallen in parts of Mecklenburg County since Monday, including at Reedy Creek Elementary School off Plaza Road Extension, according to the county’s live rain gauge map.
Five inches also have fallen parts of Cabarrus County, including Concord, the map shows.
The rains uprooted trees that knocked out power to about 1,000 Duke Energy customers in Mecklenburg County early Thursday. One of the largest outages occurred in the Randolph Road area near Mint Museum Randolph, according to Duke Energy’s outage map.
Mecklenburg and surrounding counties remain under the flash flood watch until 8 p.m. Thursday.
Thunderstorms and heavy downpours are possible throughout the day, and gusts strong enough to knock down more trees where soil is already saturated, according to an NWS advisory.
On Friday, large hail and damaging wind from more thunderstorms could hit the region,mainly after 1 p.m., NWS meteorologists said.
Skies should turn partly cloudy by Saturday, with the chance of showers dropping to 30%, according to the latest NWS forecast at 11 a.m. Thursday.
Partly to mostly sunny skies are forecast for Sunday and Monday, with a predicted high near 80 degrees on Memorial Day. The holiday has a slight chance of showers, and only between 2 and 3 p.m., in Charlotte, NWS forecasters said.