Harvey bringing heavy rain to Raleigh for the holiday weekend

Parts of the North Carolina coast were under tropical storm watches and warnings from Sunday through Tuesday, but the system that moved up the coast never strengthened as expected and brought significantly less rain to the state than what was originally forecast.

"That system has now moved well away from us," said WRAL meteorologist Elizabeth Gardner. "Today we'll stay dry, but for Thursday, Friday and Saturday, it looks like it's going to be fairly wet."

The rain comes from remnants of Tropical Storm Harvey as it weakens and moves north.

According to Gardner, the rain will start in the Triangle around Thursday afternoon before it really picks up in time for the holiday weekend. Rain will likely continue through Saturday morning, Gardner said, but things should dry out in time for Sunday and Labor Day.

"We have the potential for 1 to 3 inches of rain around the viewing area," said Gardner.

Wednesday will be warmer than recent days, with highs in the mid 80s and partly cloudy skies, before temperatures drop again Thursday and Friday.

"We're looking at a high of 73 degrees for Thursday," said Gardner.

Meteorologists are also monitoring a tropical storm off the coast of Africa that has an 80 percent chance of developing into Tropical Storm Irma in the coming days, but current models show that system will not impact North Carolina.