Storms down trees, power lines

The storms were driven by the heat of the day, WRAL meteorologist Mike Maze said.

Downed trees were reported in Orange and Durham counties. A tree crashed through the living room of a home on Hillandale Road in Durham.

"It was about the biggest tree we had in our yard,” homeowner Roy Nixon said. "It poked a really good size hole in our roof and it came all the way through the ceiling."

Nixon said he was just feet away in a nearby hallway when everything started falling around him.

"I could see the entire ceiling start coming down,” Nixon recalled.

No one was hurt.

The storm also brought down power lines. At its peak, about 3,000 Duke Energy customers were without electricity. At about 9:30 p.m.,  two outages remained in Durham.

Another scorching day is on tap for Thursday with no rain to cool things off. Maze said the Triangle could see a record-breaking high of 101. It would be the first time temperatures hit over 100 at Raleigh-Durham International Airport since June 10, 2008, he said. 

The next cool front will start to move into the area on Thursday night. As it moves through the area overnight, there will be a chance of showers.