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No immediate reports of damage after tornado warnings
A tornado watch remains in effect for the coming hours in Charlotte and the Carolinas.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — There were no immediate reports of storm damage following two tornado warnings early Monday afternoon in Mecklenburg, Gaston, and York counties.
As of 1:45 p.m., there were no active warnings in Charlotte or surrounding counties in North Carolina and South Carolina. However, a tornado warning, which means the threat of severe weather continues over the coming hours, continues for the threat from additional storms throughout the afternoon Monday.
Counties located inside the tornado threat are located south and east of Charlotte, and include Mecklenburg County. The locations include but are not limited to Anson, Montgomery, Stanly, Cabarrus, Richmond, Union, Mecklenburg, Chesterfield, Lancaster, Chester, and York.
Severe weather earlier Monday left damage behind in Georgia as it moved eastward into the Carolinas.
As seen earlier Monday afternoon, WCNC Charlotte Chief Meteorologist Brad Panovich said the biggest threat from these continued afternoon storms will be damaging, straight-line winds. He still could not rule out the possibility of isolated tornadoes, and hail.
Monday marks the first of three days in a row with the possibilities of isolated-to-scattered severe weather.
“The next three days are going to be active, to say the least,” Panovich said.
Despite a few, localized brief power outages, there were no widespread Duke Energy outages reported, according to the power company’s dashboard.
“Our primary concern is straight-line winds,” Panovich said. “Any time you have severe weather there’s at least a small risk for tornadoes, but it’s only about 1-2%. Don’t rule it out, but the severe threat is primarily driven by damaging winds.”
Panovich said a cluster of storms will move through the Charlotte area around lunchtime Monday. These scattered storms will bring heavy rain and lightning to the area. The second cluster of storms is expected to move through the area Monday afternoon with a greater chance of severe weather due to the heating of the day.
“A cluster of storms will move through in the middle of the day, around 11 or 12. Then it gets pretty crazy,” Panovich said. “Another bunch moves through in the afternoon. It may be stronger, so we’ll keep an eye on it around 3 or 4 o’clock.”
Panovich said areas south and west of Charlotte, as well as along I-85 will be at the greatest risk of severe weather Monday. These areas include Chester, Lancaster, and Rock Hill in South Carolina, as well as Gastonia, Concord and Albemarle in North Carolina.
Tuesday will see another threat of strong storms in the afternoon. Panovich said the current setup looks like what’s known as a “bow echo,” which can have supercells embedded along a line of storms.
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“To me, this is more of a worrisome setup,” Panovich said. “This is likely going to be shifted east at some point. At 4 o’clock, it’s expected to be over Charlotte and I-77 and will continue to push east Wednesday.”
Contact Brad Panovich at bpanovich@wcnc.com or follow him on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.