Charlotte under Friday wind advisory, storms could leave power outages
Charlotte will be under a wind advisory starting Friday afternoon and the area may see thunderstorms in the late afternoon and evening, according to the National Weather Service.
The storms and wind gusts, brought by an incoming cold front, may cause sporadic power outages in the Charlotte-area, according to Duke Energy.
The cold front will begin early in the morning and bring a strong line of storms followed by afternoon and evening wind gusts in some areas, Duke Energy officials said in a message to customers Thursday.
In a hazardous weather bulletin issued by NWS early Friday, officials wrote: “Conditions will be sufficient for development of scattered strong to severe thunderstorms. Damaging winds appear to be the primary threat with these thunderstorms, with a secondary threat of tornadoes, which most likely would be short-lived.”
The wind advisory is in effect 1 p.m. Friday to 1 a.m. Saturday, affecting most of the Charlotte region, including Mecklenburg, Gaston, Cabarrus, Union, Cleveland, and Lincoln counties.
Winds could gust as high as 38 miles per hour in Charlotte and the chance of precipitation is 80% in the afternoon, according to NWS.
“Our crews are prepared and ready to respond to outages resulting from these severe conditions – however, sustained high winds can sometimes result in longer outage times, as the use of hydraulic bucket trucks are limited until wind speeds decrease,” Duke officials said.
Those impacted by the storms are asked to avoid downed power lines and to report damages to local emergency services and to Duke Energy as quickly as possible.
This story was originally published March 2, 2023 at 12:56 PM.
