As severe weather threat ends, strong winds remain across NC
The threat of severe weather came to an end late Thursday morning across the Triangle, but the effects of the powerful storm system that pushed through the state early in the day will linger in the form of strong, gusty winds.
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Winds reached up to 52 mph at Raleigh-Durham International Airport Thursday morning, a sign of things to come, WRAL meteorologist Elizabeth Gardner said.
"The severe weather threat is over, and outside of a couple of spotty showers, the thing we'll be watching now is the windy conditions we'll see the rest of the day," she said.
The entire area is under a wind advisory through midnight, and winds could gust up to 40 mph at any point during the remainder of the day.
As of noon, more than 1,600 Duke Energy customers in Wake County were without power. More than 1,000 customers in both Orange and Durham counties were also experiencing outages.
"We've seen wind damage reports across the western part of the state, and it won't be a surprise to see limbs and even trees come down this afternoon and evening," Gardner said.
The region largely avoided a severe weather outbreak early in the day, with only a handful of severe thunderstorms creating a soggy morning commute.
The National Weather Service began canceling a tornado watch from west to east as storms moved past the Interstate 95 corridor.
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