Central and eastern North Carolina is bracing for possibly detrimental impacts from Hurricane Ian late this week.
Hurricane Ian on Tuesday made landfall in Cuba as a major Category 3 storm. Ian is expected to make a second landfall in Florida by Thursday morning. After that, it will weaken and bring heavy rain to N.C.
Rain will likely begin late Friday in our area, but we’ll feel the biggest impacts Saturday.
„We’re dry Friday morning, then very slowly during the day, we start to see that rain shifting northward,“ WRAL meteorologist Elizabeth Gardner explained. „So by Friday afternoon there’s some heavy rain in our southern counties. That rain continues to lift up across our area and we’re just going to see waves between Friday afternoon and during the day Saturday.“
Gardner said Saturday is going to be „almost an all-day rain,“ and showers will continue Sunday.
„It’s definitely looking like a wet weekend for us,“ Gardner said. „It’s also going to be windy. Our maximum wind gusts as we get into Thursday, Friday and Saturday are likely to be anywhere from 25 to 35 mph.“
The Triangle and communities to the east could experience pockets of heavy rain, with up to 4 inches possible, gusty winds and isolated tornadoes all during day on Saturday with rain lingering into Sunday.
There will be wind and rain in the mountains, but the weather won’t be severe there, Gardner said. Ian’s remnants could be moving into the N.
