Weather

'Cooler, Quieter' Sunday on Tap After Wild Saturday

After getting pummeled by tornadoes, hail and wind, central and eastern parts of the state will enjoy calmer weather Sunday. But a "nasty" Monday could follow, WRAL meteorologists said.

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Tornado Damages Mobile Home in Wayne County
RALEIGH, N.C. — WRAL Meteorologist Chris Thompson predicted cooler and quieter weather for Sunday, a day after central and eastern North Carolina was pounded by a line of storms that spawned two tornadoes.

That system moved off shore Sunday morning, leaving behind skies and temperatures in the mid to high 50s. The high was expected to reach 63 degrees.

Clouds built up later in the afternoon as an upper-level system pushed in. Behind it was cooler air that will keep temperatures down during the early part of the week.

A low in the upper 30s, a high around 54 and a chance of light showers will make for "kind of a nasty Monday," Thompson said.

But for all its nastiness, that system won't yield much rain.

Nor did the storm system that rolled through Saturday – but it did leave behind damage caused by tornadoes, hail and high winds.

An F-0 tornado, with winds around 75 mph, tore off the roof of a mobile home in the Oakland community off Princeton road around 3:12 p.m. Richard Clark, his wife and 5-year-old son were home at the time, but no one was injured.

That tornado also picked up another mobile home and threw it about 20 feet into a third. Both homes were unoccupied.

A law-enforcement officer spotted a second tornado in Wayne County, around 4 miles south of Pikeville, about 10 minutes later.

The weather also led East Carolina University officials to cancel the second half of the spring football scrimmage. Fans were told to seek shelter under the stands when storm clouds and lightning arrived, but the weather system passed without incident.

Hail 1.75 inches wide – the size of a golf ball – fell around Four Oaks in Johnston County.

Wind damage to homes, power poles and trees were reported in Rockingham, Caswell, Greene, Pitt, Onslow and Iredell counties.

Downed trees were reported at the intersection of Belfast and Highway 117 near Goldsboro and at Williams Road and Highway 581 near Rosewood.

In the WRAL viewing area, Rocky Mount and Roanoke Rapids got  the most rain, with 0.38 and 0.30 inches, respectively.

Raleigh got 0.06 inches, Chapel Hill 0.04, and most places were similarly under a tenth of an inch of rain. Lumberton, Elizabethtown and Clinton, though, squeaked above that marker with 0.12 inches.

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