Charlotte Weather - WBTV - | WBTV Charlotte

We've been telling you for days the date and time Fall would arrive, but what is actually happening at that moment?

Hurricane Maria made landfall on Puerto Rico early Wednesday morning as a strong Category 4 storm packing winds of 155 mph. Maria is the strongest storm to strike the island since the 1930s.

Hurricane Maria has intensified into a major Hurricane and is headed for the Leeward Islands.

Most models are sending Jose around in a circle then keeping it out over the ocean. We aren’t currently expecting to see any impacts from this storm into next week.

Continued slow weakening is forecast, and Irma is likely to become a tropical depression on Tuesday.

A wind advisory is in effect until 4 a.m. Tuesday, with forecasters predicting winds of 25 mph and gusts up to 40 mph. Early Monday, the winds were still in the 20 mph range.

The weekend is expected to be beautiful – so enjoy it! We will be mainly sunny with highs in the mid 70s for Saturday. Sunday will be partly cloudy with similar temperatures.

It’s human nature. We desire absolutes in our lives and tend to focus on information that we think will quench that thirst. The problem in the weather world is that meteorologists don’t operate that way – because we can’t.

A slow-moving front will still be trudging across the area and showers are most likely through the middle of the day.

Rainfall would be the other big concern. It would likely start raining well ahead of the center of this storm starting around late Sunday night, ending early Tuesday morning.

Some storms may produce strong or damaging winds and we can't rule out a late-day tornado.  

If winds increased by about five mph, the storm would be named Irma, which could happen Sunday night or during the day Monday.

It will likely leverage the heat and humidity across our region and develop a line of thunderstorms as it crosses the Carolinas during the late afternoon or evening hours.

On Saturday, there was a quick 60 second downpour at Quail Hollow club in the afternoon hours, but any steady rain held off until long after the course had cleared.

Friday's First Alert Day still looks to bring a few rounds of heavier downpours, especially during the afternoon and evening, but fortunately, a severe threat appears to be minimal.

Charlotte picked up a quick three-quarters of an inch of rain early today – just in time for the morning commute – and the threat of showers will continue through the day.

That front will be moving through the Carolinas Friday, providing the trigger for widespread shower and thunderstorm development, which is why Friday has been declared a First Alert Day.

As our blistering heat and humidity rolls along, the buildup over the past two weeks has continued to make our afternoons unstable and ripe for thunderstorm development. 

After a week of active weather, we saw a break with storms Friday evening, but activity looks to ramp back up Saturday afternoon and evening with a front on the way.

The day will be a warm and muggy one. Highs will be close to 90°, with high humidity. In the afternoon and evening, showers and thunderstorms could begin to pop up.

Tropical Storm Cindy – the third named storm of this hurricane season – made landfall along the Louisiana coast early Thursday morning spreading flooding rain and severe weather across the Gulf coast region.

The end of the week may be influenced by Tropical Storm Cindy. Right now, the storm is still in the Gulf of Mexico.

Did you know there is actually a meteorology term for these rays of sun light? They're called Crepuscular Rays (pronounced "kr?'p?sky?l?r"). 

With tropical humidity in place in advance of the front, more heavy rain can be expected at just about any time today, though there should be a bit of a lull during the midday hours.

A Severe Thunderstorm Watch has been posted until 9 p.m. this evening for Charlotte-Mecklenburg and surrounding counties including all of our South Carolina upstate counties.

Waves of heavy rain will continue to roll through the Carolinas over the next two days through Wednesday.

You may wish to carefully evaluate your travel plans, both locally and regionally, early next week with the anticipated difficult conditions. 

Some heavier rain and storms are moving towards the NC state line from eastern TN, but they are encountering a more stable air mass so the thunder should start to diminish as it nears our area.

While today will be mostly sunny and hot…even a little on the humid side…with afternoon readings in the upper 80s in most neighborhoods outside of the mountains. 

Before we get too excited, our South Carolina counties aren’t totally out of the woods.

While the core of this storm system has passed, a pattern of sharply cooler air will entrench the Carolinas through the weekend and linger for much of next week. 

Any families with evening baseball games or other events should plan and prepare for delays or cancellations.

A cold front is moving toward the Carolinas. On Saturday, the front brought strong-to-severe thunderstorms from the Midwest to the Deep South. On Sunday, it will move closer to us.

We all knew it was coming - but still, the massive storm that threatened heavy winds and record-breaking rains - took some people by surprise. 

This front will bring scattered late day thunderstorms, and a few could be on the strong side with damaging wind and large hail.

As we move into the night, the rain will pick back up again and spread east. The I-77 corridor looks like the next target for heavy rain. That is why the First Alert Day has been extended into Monday.

Rain is already coming down in across parts of the WBTV viewing area Saturday evening. The heaviest is likely to fall from I-40, north into the Mountains. There could be pockets of heavy rain.

Sunday is a First Alert Day, but we've got Friday evening and Saturday to get past first, so here's how it looks like things will play out over the next 48 hours.

There will be more spotty rain – mostly on the light side – through today, but likely not more than about a 30% risk in any one location.

As of Easter morning, our overnight weather models have slowed down a little bit with the arrival of the showers on Monday, which would be developing with a weak front dropping in from the north.

A line of thunderstorms ripped across the region overnight producing strong winds and several reports of nickel to quarter size hail.

A batch of heavy rain is moving across the WBTV viewing area this afternoon. The line is moving quickly – at about 45 mph. However just because that moves past us, it doesn’t mean we are done.

It looks like the morning hours will be the most active, although isolated storms could arrive as early as this evening.

If these storms slow down a bit, we could be looking at a messy commute. We want to let you know that is at least a possibility.

About 2:45 p.m., a trained spotter saw a funnel cloud and trees were reported down in the intersection of Old Mountain Road and Lewis Ferry Road.

As new data and information comes into the First Alert weather center Friday evening, we have made adjustments to our Sunday forecast that have led us to downgrade our First Alert Day to a Regional First Alert Day for the mountains only.

Thunderstorms will become more likely in the late afternoon to evening hours.

If you look at the current radar, you would have no reason to believe Monday would be a First Alert Day. However, a new low is going to form along the cold front draped down the NC/SC coast.

First up are freezing temperatures as we head overnight and into Saturday morning.

Actually, March snow in the Charlotte area is not all that rare, but considering we’re forecasting 76° here Thursday afternoon, the cold push coming our way will certainly be a very rude reality check.

Once again we have another storm system over the middle of the country moving into the southeast and the Carolinas bringing with it a line of showers and possible storms late Tuesday. 

February was a rather dry month in Charlotte with absolutely no snow and just over 1 inch of rain – more than 2 inches below average – and it was a very warm month as well.

With the beginning of March right around the corner, you'll likely hear meteorologists everywhere chiming about how "Meteorological Winter" has come to an end and March 1 signifies the beginning of "Meteorological Spring".

When the moon passes behind the earth during its monthly orbit, there are three possibilities.

On Sunday, we hit 80°! We broke a record… and all ran around outside in shorts and flip-flops! What else are you going to do when it’s 80° in February?

The tiny water droplets in clouds and fog can exist in temperatures below freezing; they are known as supercooled droplets.

And while the warm temperatures will grab much of the short-term attention, there are two opportunities for rain expected before a cold front ends the warm-weather party Thursday.

For most folks, varying weather just makes life more interesting. But our mountain economy heavily depends on seasonal temperatures for a robust ski season. 

This will allow meteorologists and researchers to more closely watch the evolution of rapidly developing small scale weather features such as localized thunderstorms.

If you have any outdoor weekend plans because you saw the temperatures in the 60s, have a plan B on stand-by for now.

Wednesday has been declared a First Alert Day because we have a 60% chance of rain.

The primary takeaway you’ll notice is we never get that far away from any particular frontal boundary over the next several days.

Some roadways are frozen solid. Others have been re-treated and aren’t frozen at all. Which are you driving on? There’s no way to tell. That’s the danger of black ice.

The latest data as of 10:45 p.m. Wednesday continues to fluctuate appreciably with respect to final snowfall accumulations. But what it is not doing is suggesting we might miss the snow.

The main problem is that if there are any warnings, they will likely happen while most of us are asleep late Monday night or early Tuesday morning.