Cold front, heavy rains coming Friday night

"The weather will deteriorate over the next few hours as a line of showers and storms moves in from the west just in time to impact Friday night football," WRAL meteorologist Mike Maze said.

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Central North Carolina is under a Level 1 severe weather threat.

"We're looking at the possibility some gusty showers with brief, heavy rainfall," Maze said. "Winds could gust up to 40 or 50 mph with these showers."

Rain rolled through parts of the Triangle Thursday night, and Friday started out dry but humid.

Temperatures topped out in the mid-70s Friday, and they will plunge after the front moves through the area.

"The severe threat should be clear of the Triangle by about 11 p.m.," Maze said.

A much nicer weekend is on the way.

"It will be dry and cool after the front," Maze said.

The high on Saturday and Sunday will top out in the low 60s, and it will be mostly sunny.

The front headed to central North Carolina is the same system that brought rough weather to other parts of the deep South.

At least 11 tornadoes have been confirmed by National Weather Service surveyors so far in Louisiana and Mississippi as part of a storm system that moved across the region Wednesday night and Thursday.

Damage surveys are planned to continue Friday in both states.

In Louisiana, the strongest storms were a pair of twisters with top winds of 115 mph (185 kph) that hit Washington Parish, north of New Orleans. Near Bogalusa, a mobile home rolled over, injuring two occupants. Both were rated EF-2 on the Enhanced Fujita scale. Two weaker tornadoes were also confirmed in and around Lake Charles, including one that damaged a vacant shopping center near McNeese State University.

In Mississippi, a total of seven tornadoes have been confirmed so far, including an EF-2 twister and an EF-1 twister that hit in Adams County. Heavy damage was reported in and around Natchez.