Rain and Storms on the Way...

A couple things to look forward to in our weather over the next few days... some much needed rain late tonight and Friday and very pleasant conditions for the weekend. The only problem in the forecast comes in the form of a slight chance for strong thunderstorms Friday.

The stage is now set for a good soaking rainfall across much of North Carolina. This morning we're tracking a storm system that is producing the threat for severe weather along the Gulf coast and wintry weather for places like Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, and Kentucky.

The above radar image from news14.com shows the storm system we are tracking as of just before 10am Thursday morning. Rain should begin to spread into North Carolina this evening. In the northern mountains and northern foothills, temperatures will drop to near or just below freezing. Freezing rain could become an issue in the areas from Mount Airy to Boone and points to the north. The Triad may see some sleet overnight as the precipitation sets in, but temperatures there will be above freezing so travel should not be a problem. Here in the Triangle and Sandhills this will be an all rain event with lows dropping to near 40 in the Triangle to the low 40s in the Sandhills.

Around daybreak, a warm front will lift through the eastern half of the state. That will make for a somewhat unstable atmosphere as a cold front then sweeps across the Carolinas from the west to east. That may be enough to produce a few strong thunderstorms. While we do not anticipate widespread severe weather, the Storm Prediction Center has placed parts of the region under a "slight risk" for severe storms.

The threat for the strong storms will mainly come from mid-morning into the early afternoon. We'll keep you posted with the latest updates every 10 minutes with Weather on the Ones.

Again, the good news out of this will be the rain. We now expect about 1 inch of rain on average around our region. Some parts of western North Carolina could see up to 2 inches.