4,000 in Charlotte area lose power in storms. Fierce winds to rattle mountains, NWS says

At least 4,000 Duke Energy customers in the Charlotte area remained without power Saturday morning after intense overnight storms.

And more bad weather threatened Western North Carolina Saturday afternoon and night and is predicted to again on Sunday, according to late-afternoon alerts by the National Weather Service office in Greer, South Carolina.

Fierce 60-mph winds and nickel-size hail threatened Asheville, Biltmore Forest and other parts of the mountains late Saturday afternoon, the NWS office said on X, the former Twitter.

In Brevard, Transylvania County, NWS forecasters warned of 50 mph gusts and half-inch hail.

Lightning damages water tower, landfill station

A lightning strike sent torrents of water gushing from a water tower in the Union County town of Stallings, a woman’s video on social media showed.

In York County, lightning is believed to have damaged a scale in the scale house at the county landfill, officials said.

“All traffic must weigh in and weigh out on the same side,” officials posted on social media. “That will cause long wait times today.”

At 6:16 p.m. Friday, the National Weather Service warned of 40-mph winds and pea-size hail for Stallings, Indian Trail and Weddington in Union County; Pineville and Matthews in southern Mecklenburg County; and Lake Wylie and Fort Mill in Upstate South Carolina.

No other damage was immediately reported.

At least half the outages were in Upstate South Carolina, while hundreds lost electricity in south Mecklenburg., according to the Duke Energy outage map.

Outages fell to 2,000 by 1:30 p.m. Saturday. Power was expected to be fully restored in Mecklenburg County by early Sunday, the map showed.

NWS: More intense storms predicted Sunday

Storms with “torrential rainfall” were possible again Saturday afternoon and night in Mecklenburg and surrounding counties, Upstate South Carolina and the Carolinas mountains, according to a National Weather Service bulletin early Saturday.

“A few storms may become stronger and pose an additional threat of wind damage,” NWS meteorologists in the Greer, South Carolina, office said in the bulletin.

Even more intense storms could hit the Charlotte area, Upstate South Carolina and the mountains and foothills on Sunday, according to the NWS.

“A better chance for strong to severe thunderstorms will be in store for Sunday,” NWS forecasters said on X just before 5:30 p.m. Saturday. “Straight-line damaging winds will be the primary threat “

Charlotte Labor Day forecast and beyond

After respective predicted highs of 87 and 88 on Saturday and Sunday, Charlotte’s weather is finally expected to cool, according to the NWS forecast at 5 p.m. Saturday.

Highs are expected to drop to 83 on Labor Day, 78 on Tuesday and 75 on Wednesday, before ticking up to 77 on Thursday and 80 on Friday, the forecast showed.

Skies should remain mostly cloudy through the the work week, although rain chances are slim, according to the forecast.