Severe weather threat looms

Tracking a severe weather threat

1 hour ago

Gerald Mengel,

Severe weather season is back in the Carolinas, and it’s about to rear its ugly head. Tonight will remain calm if you want to get outside and take an evening walk. Temperatures will cool off towards the upper 40s for most as clouds build late. Tomorrow will start tame with increasing cloud cover and temperatures quickly warming with highs in the mid 70s in the Piedmont, and upper 50s in the High Country. By Sunday evening, things start to go downhill as the severe threat ramps up.

Showers will work in during the late afternoon from north to south across the area. With ample wind shear helping to create rotation in the atmosphere, we will need to watch these for the potential of an isolated tornado, especially south of I-85. This threat will remain during the overnight of Sunday as the atmosphere remains unstable. The next round of more widespread and likely more dangerous storms looks to arrive during the first half of Monday.

A powerful cold front will cross the region from west to east across the area on Monday. A feisty squall line looks to accompany this frontal system. The exact timing will be crucial for the extent of our severe threat. The later in the day it moves through, the more storm fuel that will be available. Luckily, as of now, it looks to work through before noon, which will help to limit the damage. Either way, strong winds are likely, and the tornado threat will be very real, especially with any discrete storms that form ahead of the squall line. The highest threat of severe weather will be east of I-77, although the entire viewing area is under the gun.

By late Monday, a strong push of cold air moves in and things clear up. This means a hard freeze is likely for your St. Patrick’s Day morning and a cold afternoon with highs near 50 in the Piedmont. We then slowly warm day by day next week.