Blustery winds bring power outages as cold front moves into the Cape Fear area

Renee Spencer, Wilmington StarNews
·2 min read
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With high winds sweeping across the Wilmington area Friday, several power outages were reported.
With high winds sweeping across the Wilmington area Friday, several power outages were reported.

A cold front brought blustery winds and dropping temperatures to the Wilmington area Friday.

According to Victoria Olivia, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Wilmington, recorded wind gusts were around 40 mph with a peak gust of 51 mph recorded at the Wilmington International Airport. Olivia said winds would decrease throughout the afternoon with gusts around 20 mph possible overnight and into Saturday morning.

As far as the cold, Olivia said to expect temperatures to remain "well below normal" through Christmas Day. Friday night, forecast lows throughout Southeastern North Carolina would be around 15 degrees with wind chills ranging from 0 to 5 degrees. On Christmas Eve, temperatures will be slightly warmer with lows around 19 degrees and reaching a high of about 30. Highs are expected to be around 40 degrees on Christmas Day.

While many were concerned about the single-digit wind chills forecast for Friday night and Saturday morning, the blustery winds brought their own set of challenges throughout the day Friday. Duke Energy, Brunswick Electric, Four-County Electric, and Jones-Onslow Electric were all reporting outages around 1 p.m. Crews were working to restore power to the affected areas.

More:Will Wilmington see a white Christmas this year? Probably not, but it's going to be cold.

Those out purchasing last-minute holiday gifts in some of Wilmington’s shopping areas reported outages at the Walmart on Sigmon Road and Kohl’s and the surrounding area. According to the Duke Energy outage map, more than 1,000 customers were without power in the area around Eastwood Road.

Click the links below for the latest on power outages in the Cape Fear area.

Duke Energy: Outage Map - Duke Energy (duke-energy.com)

Brunswick Electric Membership Corporation: Brunswick Electric Membership Outage Map (bemc.org)

Four County Electric Membership Corporation: Four County Electric Outage Map (fourcty.org)

Jones-Onslow Electric: JOEMC Outage Map (sienatech.com)

This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: Thousands without power across the Cape Fear due to cold front