Severe storms drop hail, leave power outages across Charlotte region

Joe Marusak
·2 min read
2

Severe storms with potentially damaging winds and large hail were barreling across the Charlotte region on Friday, National Weather Service meteorologists said.

About 3,000 Charlotte-area customers had no power at 4:30 p.m., including 1,900 in Cabarrus County and 963 in Mecklenburg County, according to the Duke Energy outage map.

Thunder rumbled and skies darkened above Lake Norman just after 3:30 p.m., after storms were reported earlier in the afternoon everywhere from South Carolina to the North Carolina mountains.

Winds up to 50 mph and half-inch hail were possible until 4:30 p.m. in Huntersville, Concord and Kannapolis, according to a warning from the NWS office in Greer, South Carolina.

Winds whipped hail and a heavy downpour across Mooresville around 3:45 p.m., and police sirens wailed along Interstate 77 at Mooresville exit 35 at the lake.

On Twitter, the Huntersville Fire Department reported small, marble-sized hail about 4 p.m.

At 4:40 p.m., the NWS said 50-mph winds and half-inch hail were possible until 5:30 p.m. in Matthews, Indian Trail and Monroe.

Mecklenburg County outages included about 900 customers just north of University City Boulevard (N.C. 49) and east of I-485.

Charlotte-area outages fell to about 2,000 by 5 p.m., with most power restored in Mecklenburg County, according to Duke Energy.

Scattered storms ahead of a cold front are expected across the region through evening, according to an NWS hazardous weather alert at 2:45 p.m. Friday.

Flight delays

By 5 p.m., at least 230 flights were reported delayed at Charlotte Douglas International Airport, according to Flight Aware.com, which tracks flights at the nation’s airports.

Delays included at least 124 departures, or 15% of flights from the airport, and at least 106 incoming planes, or 12%.

Charlotte forecast

Any last rain should clear from Charlotte by 7 p.m., according to the NWS forecast at 5 p.m. Friday.

Charlotte reached 68 degrees on Friday and is predicted to inch up to 70 Saturday and 71 on Sunday under sunny skies., the forecast showed. Skies should remain mostly sunny all week, according to the NWS.

The high is expected to dip back down to 68 on Monday before rising to 70 Tuesday, 75 Wednesday, 76 Thursday and 75 on Friday, according to the forecast.