First and foremost, let’s talk Florence.

After meandering along the coast for quite some time, the storm officially made landfall as a Cat 1 storm (max winds: 90 mph) at 7:15 this morning at Wrightsville Beach. It is still a Cat 1 hurricane. Since it’s really just crawling around the coast and so much of the storm is over water, it will be quite a while before we see the intensity go down and the coastal areas will continue to see devastating impacts through much of the day.

It slowly creeps towards Charlotte over the next 24-36 hours. Today, we begin to see some of the breezier conditions with rain bands potentially moving in this evening. By tomorrow afternoon, we get to tropical storm force winds, 4-8 inches of rain (in the metro), and tornado risk. Something to emphasize – these tornadoes will spin up VERY quickly, and they won’t last very long.

Download the WSOC Weather App now and customize weather alerts for you area so you stay informed as the storm approaches Charlotte.