Clouds, rain settle in over central NC

The frontal boundary will be a catalyst for shower and thunderstorm development through the afternoon each day this week.

Temperatures reached a muggy 85 degrees by noon but dropped back into the mid-70s by 3 p.m. as showers overspread the area, some of them heavy.

"With the atmosphere loaded down with moisture, we saw showers that dumped some heavy rain in a short period of time," said WRAL Chief Meteorologist Greg Fishel.

Some parts of Cumberland County received up to 3 inches of rain, such as Festival Park in Fayetteville, causing some minor flooding.

Bladen County got up to 6 inches of rain.

Some drivers struggled on the wet roads. In Durham, a woman lost control of her car near the place where U.S. Highway 15/U.S. Highway 501 splits with Hillsborough Road, ran off the road and flipped her car, damaging a sign.

She was not seriously injured, police said.

The Moore County Sheriff's Office reported eight fires as a result of lightning strikes – three in the northern part of the county and five others in Southern Pines, Pinehurst and Aberdeen.

It wasn't immediately clear how many people were displaced by the fires. There were no reports of injuries.

There were also reports of several downed trees and power lines and minor flooding in parts of Pinehurst and Southern Pines.

Some rain, heavy at times, is forecast again for Wednesday and through the next seven days, Fishel said. "You will see as the chance for storms gradually diminishes the high temperature rises," he pointed out.

By the end of the week, some parts of central North Carolina could have accumulated three inches or more of rain.