Severe storm threat extends past sunset

A few storms popped up during the late afternoon west of Durham and in the Henderson area, but the greater threat entered central North Carolina into the later hours of Friday.

The National Weather Service issued a Severe Thunderstorm Warning for for Wake and surrounding counties Friday evening.

“It’s been another night of stormy weather, but this turned out to be way less widespread than it could have been tonight,” WRAL Chief Meteorologist Greg Fishel said. “This had the potential to be quite a large and significant event tonight, but it simply did not live up to that potential.”

Downed trees were reported just before 9 p.m. at the intersections of Randolph and Erwin roads and Johnson Mill and South Lowell in Durham.

According to Duke Energy, 567 customers in Wake County and 2,760 in Johnston County were without power at 9:13 p.m.

The forecast highs for Saturday and Sunday again push temperatures past 90 degrees. Skies stay mostly clear with only the slightest chance for afternoon storms through the next seven days.

“We expect far less in the way of thunderstorm activity tomorrow, certainly opposed to what we saw this evening,” Fishel said.