A potent storm system is moving through the region, placing much of eastern North Carolina under a Level 3 to 4 risk for significant severe weather.
Meteorologists with the National Weather Service warn that a powerful cold front will trigger intense thunderstorms through Monday evening. The primary threat is damaging straight-line winds exceeding 70 miles per hour, but Meteorologist Nick Pietro said large hail, and the potential for isolated, strong tornadoes are possible.
“Roughly 15 to 30% probability of tornadoes, and some of those could be significant,” he said, “Now, what do we mean by significant? We're talking EF2 is like the low end of significant, right? I mean, for somebody who gets hit by an EF1, that's significant to them, right? But just for meteorological definition, we're talking EF2 or stronger.”
The main hazard, though, is damaging wind gusts. Pietro said, “This could result in some significant straight-line wind damage, and we're talking hurricane force gusts or higher, 74 or higher, and there's a 60% to 75% probability of widespread damaging winds.”
Large hail could also fall. “That's probably the thing we're going to see the least of. But if it were to occur, particularly in tornadic producing storms, the hail could be two inch in diameter or more. That's the size of hail that could break windows,” Pietro said.
A Wind Advisory is in effect for gusts up to 50 mph, and many local school districts have announced early dismissals to get students home safely before the storm.
