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Heavy rain, some possible flooding likely before fall-like temps return next week
Raleigh, N.C. — After a rainy day in some parts of central North Carolina on Friday and some muggy conditions possible through the weekend, cooler temperatures will be moving into the area, something that everyone will be feeling moving forward.
Some heavy rain showers moved through the southern part of the Triangle on Friday. As a result, a flood advisory was in effect for Hoke, Sampson, Wayne, Johnston and Cumberland counties until 7:15 p.m. on Friday. Moore County was under a similar warning until 8:30 p.m. Friday. Once that front moves out of the area, much of the state will begin to feel a consistent pattern of cooler weather from another front that will take its place.
“The (current) front is likely to just get stuck, stall out over the state,” meteorologist Kat Campbell said. “It’s leading to some slow-moving storms.”
Campbell said some ponding on roads was possible as 1-2 inches of rain had already fallen in places such as Fayetteville, Laurinburg, Dunn and Goldsboro.
Elsewhere on Friday, patchy showers were seen around the WRAL viewing area. Saturday, Campbell said storm chances will be very low with the chance of some spotty rain possible. There will be cloudy skies with temperatures around 77, though it will still be humid.
Sunday will be a tad warmer with highs around 85 with muggy conditions possible.
“A front moves through on Sunday and that will not only bring us some cooler weather, it’ll also push (tropical storm) Paulette away from us,” Campbell said.
Campbell said morning temps next week will fall into the 60s and 50s. The normal morning low is 64. Afternoon highs will be in the mid 70s to near 80 for places like Fayetteville and Clinton.
The tropics are exploding
Thursday marked the peak of hurricane season in the Atlantic basin, and although none are forecast to impact North Carolina at his time, there is plenty to watch.
As of 5 p.m. Friday, one of two disturbances in the Florida region formed into a tropical depression. The National Hurricane Center said Tropical Depression No. 19 formed and was about 80 miles east southeast of Miami. Maximum sustained winds were at 35 mph. The system was moving west northwest at 8 mph.
The second tropical wave already in the Gulf of Mexico has a 20% chance of developing in the western Gulf over the next five days.
Two other systems are now off the coast of Africa, one with a 70 percent chance of development and the other with a 10 percent chance.
Tropical Storm Paulette and Tropical Storm Rene continue to move in the Atlantic. Neither pose a threat to the United States, according to the National Hurricane Center.
There are just four storm names left on the World Meteorological Organization list for 2020. There are no storms that begin with Q, U, X, Y and Z, because there aren’t enough names with those letters.
Once the designated list of names for the season is used up, any additional storms get names from the Greek alphabet. The only time that has happened was in 2005, to date the busiest hurricane season on record, when there were 28 named storms.
La Niña means hurricanes more likely through fall
The Climate Prediction Center on Thursday upgraded the United States from a watch to advisory status for La Niña conditions.
When cooler waters develop over the east-central Pacific, it decreases the wind shear in the Atlantic, making conditions there more hospitable for tropical systems to develop into hurricanes.