Drought-busting rainfall heads east; Stormy Mother’s Day ahead

The skies began to clear, but a “stormy” Mother’s Day is ahead, according to WRAL Meteorologist Chris Thompson.

A tornado near Greensboro killed one person and injured three others late Thursday. 

The storm system that hit the Triangle Friday morning created rough weather in the Triad Thursday night.

Law enforcement officers reported a tornado 6 miles northwest of Greensboro around 11:29 p.m. Thursday, the National Weather Service said.

The person killed was in a small truck in a parking lot near Triad Park west of Greensboro, said Alan Perdue, Emergency Services director for Guilford County. He did not have other details.

Two people were taken to the hospital with injuries that were not considered life threatening, and a third person was treated at the scene and released, Perdue said.

Also, numerous trees and power lines were down and there were some trees on houses, he said.

The Winston-Salem Journal quoted the North Carolina Highway Patrol as saying the storm blew three tractor-trailers off Interstate 40 near N.C. 68 and not far from Piedmont Triad International Airport.

The weather service listed the event as a tornado and estimated from radar tracking that it hit about 10:25 p.m.

Doppler radar showed the storm system moving northeast into Virginia by early Friday, and WRAL Chief Meteorologist Greg Fishel said the Triangle appeared to have been spared a direct hit from that line of storms.

In the Triangle on Thursday night, lightning lit up the night sky and thunder rumbled over Orange and Durham counties about 8:30 p.m.