Burke county, we are hearing about trees down. Give us the hate on what he is hearing from his sources. Basically trees down, thats the issue so far today in burke, caldwell, catawba, and alexander counties. I am on highway 16 and i40, on the bridge. There are blue skies to the west of me, gray dark scary clouds to the east of me. The trees are blowing. At this point theres no rain at this spot. Part of interstate 40 tree down. They have that cleared up now. 16, in burke county. Authorities are telling people be careful on those country roads especially when you are coming through, because it could be debris or trees down on the road when you maybe the turn. At this point, it seems like the as far as the flooding is not an issue. The wind is an issue, and continue as the storm goes through, though not quite assist intense, so as intense. You see blue skies, you need to be careful. Anchor also on the ground for us, with a sense of what he has been seeing on the roads. We hostage his shot. Youre looking at at our hd tower cam at this hour. Where things look pretty calm here in the immediate charlotte area. We are tracking this system more. What should folks expect in Mecklenburg County . Anchor we have another line south of Gaston County and up to lincolnton. We will watch that closely. Look at the setup as we head into the afternoon. All of the area in red. These are tornado watches up, from charlotte, to the east, raleigh and all the way to the coast, that is the potential to see Severe Weather. Now, while the tornado risk is there, the greater threat this afternoon will be the terrible rains, and the flooding rains that are possible in the core of these storms. Al talked about it a few minutes ago. We saw rate up to two inches an hour. With the storms moving so fast, these are moving northeast 50 to 60 miles an hour, that is enough to bring strong winds to the ground and take down trees and limbs. The tornado threat is small as we head into the afternoon. Likely most of the tornadoes we have seep reported, again, Doppler Radar indicated, were short lived and fairly weak. Look at the line, really with virginia through charlotte and all the way across the carolinas this afternoon. So you have Severe Weather out to our east, we saw Tornado Warning toward fayetteville earlier this afternoon. And as we broaden out, we will take you in this overall storm system, the computer sort of hagging with all of the data it is getting in. You have a big area of low pressure to the west. Take a look at the circulation. Theres the center of the low. So you get the moisture out of the gulf. Then a south or southeast wind at the surface, it begins to turn aloft. Thats where you see the rotation. On the back side, snow in st. Louis, up to chicago. That snow will come to the afternoon. Theres the low. We have a few more hours where we are dealing with the weather threat, and as the low lifts northeast, we wrap around the cold air, and snow will move into the North Carolina high country tonight. Al and i were talking about this look at that. It is 71 now. We started this morning in the 40s. 24. It has been gusting from 35 to 40 miles an hour. That is outside of the Severe Weather we have seen, humidity is up there, dew point is 60. You have ingredients to see the weather this afternoon. 70 arrival, examine 71 monroe. So the southerly moisture and warm temperatures firing off Severe Weather this afternoon. We have been monitoring the situation. We have seep Tornado Warnings expire and extend to the north and east. We will keep an eye on that. Anchor thank you. We want to show folks at home what our reporters are seeing on the ground. If we can roll that video, we can show you trees down in the area, this is west charlotte, cars, damaging windshields, so again, something to watch for as you are outdoors this afternoon. This system has moved in pretty quickly. On the ground for us now, tell us what you have been seeing out and about during the morning hours. Reporter what happened, i have been seeing, i am past Gaston County, 321, near crowders mountain. It was 11 45, did not think i would see rain. I was worried because i was going to give you a dry live shot. That is not the case. A bunch of clouds rolled through. Al is completely correct on the Doppler Radar am we had massive dark clouds, rain coming down, wind unbelievably strong. When i was setting up the camera i was actually pushed into the back of the s. U. V. We have because the wind was beating me so hard back into the s. U. V. The rain came down, it is coming down in waives. I saw the first waive, wasnt too bad, the second wave, i was heading northeast toward Gaston County, gastonia, came through very strong, i am talking the rain was unbelievably strong, like i was telling you, it pushed me into the car. We are back in one of the lulls. That is what is happening at this moment. Not too much rain here. I am completely soaked from the last go around, 10 minutes ago. That was heading northeast. I saw that roll through. I also want to tell you, i hear a ton of thunder in the clouds up there, bunch of thunder claps coming down. This area 10 minutes ago, it was coming down so hard, i had to get back in the car. I am going to stay out longer for you, becauau i know we have darker clouds to my right rolling in, and further, i have seep clouds rolling through, maybe another wave. Al was right when he was talking rolling through a manipulate ago toward gastonia. Anchor it was during midday hours al told us this morning was the biggest concern for the Severe Weather. Back to the weather center, the system moved so quickly. At one point, thunderstorms hour. That in itself, the Forward Motion can bring down trees, obviously power poles. That is the damage we are seeing. Lets get everybody caught up on what we have active now. Technically for another 21 minutes we have a Tornado Warning for eastern sections of alexander county, tearville east so u. S. Taylorsville, 64, that is almost out of there. I am more concerned from high shoals to lincolnton, to east of star town, catawba, the town, and you see a lot of lightning that is part of the system that has Severe Thunderstorm Warnings until 12 45 for parts of the york county, Gaston County, east lincoln, iredell and northwest roane county. Some of the reports, this is another cell i am concerned about, york, 321. I am going to put a tracker on this, this is heading toward gastonia, the next 20 minute or so, that will be on top of you, mount holly, west side, 485, west Mecklenburg County being if it holds together, denver, 12 40. We are seeing reports of 60 plusmileperhour winds. Dale earnhardt boulevard in roane county, i am also seeing we have had several power poles snapped and trees coming down around Gaston County and burke of course, we heard a lot about that. Theres the line. You can see the movement. This is a two hour loop. Behind this, we are getting redevelopment as well. This will probably be a process the next two to three hours to work through. Once it moves through, i think we will be looking better hate afternoon and evening. The tornado watch runs until 7 00 this evening for the counties shaded in red. I think the threat will be long gone by then, at least in the viewing area, to the east a different story. I am hearing bells and whistles behind me. Obviously we have an update on a warning. This is an update on the high wind warning for areas around us mainly to the south and west. That is indication there of how powerful this area of low pressure is. I am going to step in front of the wall. Look at the line, that is the virginia border, through wilkes to the south on the georgia border. All of this is capable of producing Severe Weather, dangerous lightning, strong winds, that can take down powerlines and trees. Hail, torrential rainfall, in the core of that storm. Not all of these produce tornadoes, any of them certainly have the amount to spin up a brief tornado. We come back to the charlotte area. This is what al was talking about. York, to the south, this storm system, lifting to the north and east. Out of Lincoln County, moving to caveras county. Thats what we are watching in the afternoon. More storm systems firing up down this line that stretches across the carolinas this afternoon. The broad pivot, that is the center of low pressure, so all of the southerly warm air and moisture being fed in. Around the core of that hoe, you get the cold air wrapping in. You have heard us mentioning it, surface, cold air aloft, those are the ingredients for Severe Weather. This will not last that much loloer. Probably 2 00 or 3 00, then the focus begins to shift to the north and east and eastern North Carolina, and then tonight we are talking about snow. Yes, snow in the North Carolina high country. Charlotte, championship, out to raleigh and North Carolina coast all of the areas sheaed in red, that is our tornado watch for this afternoon. Now, many of these areas until 7 00 p. M. , they will likely drop that in the afternoon and evening, but the scenario is there we see brief spinups of tornadoes. That is the hoe end of the scale. The real problem with the storm systems will be the winds and flooding rains, torrential rainfall in the core of the storms, we have seep storms that produce from one to two inches of rainfall per hour. That is stationary, these storms are racing so fast north and that brings in the wind. Damaging winds, certainly a possibility, microbursts, downshopping winds bringing in powerful winds to the ground, bringing down trees and powerlines. While this is a tornado threat, it is rather hoe. It will continue to diminish into the Late Afternoon and early evening. 71 in charlotte. We started this morning in the 40. Dew point in the hoe 60s with sustained winds at the surface at 24 miles per hour, so southerly at the surface, they move to the southwest, and then to the west. That gives you the spin in the atmosphere. 51 boone, 70 gastonia, 69 albemarle. That wedge front we saw earlier being eroded. A big difference from 24 hours ago. We are 25 warmer at this hour today . So it is the southerly surge of moisture and the spin in the atmosphere. This system with us, and the coder air coming in. Anchor thank you. Pete talk to the folks at the catawba Emergency Communications on the phone with us right now. Can you hear me . I can. Anchor tell us what you are hearing and seeing. Certainly we have been watching the storm cell that went over the western part of the county pretty serious, the Tornado Warning has been lifted the last few minute. We are receiving reports of damage, trees down in four, five six areas of the county, so we are starting to assess that. At the same time we are watching a new set of cells crossing the southeast corner of the county. A lot happening here. Anchor tell us how you are having to respond to some of the reports you are hearing. Of a command situation where we have different Fire Departments checking on the areas with reports of trees and powerlines down, checking on homes where trees have reportedly had i the homes. Anchor ok. Emergency management catawba county, we appreciate you calling in, and giving us an update from the area. Want to show you some of the pictures from viewers at this hour on social media. Dark ominous clouds, you are seeing in the North Carolina area. As we scroll through photos, you can see it goes from blue skies to dark ominous clouds, the same thing our reporters have been seeing on the ground in Gaston County and ausin the hickory area from our wbtv source, witnessing that as well. A testament to how quickly this system is moving in and out. And more cells are firing up at this hour. The first regard weather center. New information, almost addition, another warning, for severe thunderstorms, although we technically have the Tornado Warning another tradition minutes for alexander county. The middle of 321, these are pretty intense thunderstorms rolling through. So couple more minutes, alexander county. That has weakened. There it goes. They have allowed that to be canceled early. This isnt much happening there at the moment. Theres a high wind warning through the evening hours. What we are seeing is thunderstorms are one thing. On top of that, we have just strong winds out of the south. With the wet flow, we are getting many report of trees coming down outside of thunderstorms. Very intense thunderstorm now moving out of the high shoals toward sheryl ford, west of now two warnings for severe thunderstorms. These are severe thunderstorms being everything in yellow. Until 12 45, the western sections of york county. And also, we have now for Lincoln County and catawba county, until 12 45. Alexander county you are in the clear, the warning has been canceled. They have now added until 1 15 mecklenburg, union, caveras, and eastern sections of roane county. Heres why. The next cells are coming up. I am going to put a tracker on this, pretty intense cell west of tega kay, cramerton. These are hauling. So you can see mount holly, as we head toward lowsville, huntersville, cornelius, just before 1 00. That is that cell. Again, the main line man up, theres likely another align from the west. That, rutherford county. That will likely develop into something as well. That is what we are dealing with in the charlottemer area and to the west. We have a tornado watch in effect until 7 00, for most of the wbtv viewing area. I really think the threat is the next couple hours. If you are in the path of a tornado, we have no active warnings now. This is what you should be thinking about, sturdy building, lowest level. If kids are at school, dont run to the school. The schools know what to do. They go through fire and tornado drills. Thats a safe place for them to be, more so than in the vehicle trying to get them out in the parking lot and get them home. As hard as it is to believe, the greater threat is likely raleigh and point east, we are only in thunderstorms. We have certainly had our fair share already this morning. There is the line, up and down 321, Gaston County, west Mecklenburg County. Just to the west of stony point, statesville, a pretty intense line. Then one more south of 85 and 29. Anchor we are continuing Team Coverage of this Severe Weather hit the carolinas at this hour. We have been showing you many images, this afternoon, including trees down in the area. We are also getting report of lines down, so if you see powerlines down, treat it as a live wire and call emergency officials right away. If you have power outages, street lights our, treat those stop. At this point you. To stay inside if you can until well be right back. Anchor continuing our coverage of Severe Weather in the area. Traveling toward the Gaston County area now, as we are traveling from mecklenburg to Gaston County. Tell us what you have been seeing on the ground. We exit i85, and arrived in mount hollywood, getting clouds. There certainly are very heavy winds. You can kind of feel it hitting against the truck we are in. You may actually be able to hear the rain beating against the windows. The rain is so heavy, it is kind of tough to see even a few feet in front of the truck. No funnel clouds. I will be sure to keep you updated as soon as we see anything. Anchor thank you. That Tornado Warning no longer in effect for our area, it is just Severe Thunderstorm Warning we are watching for you now. We have more details. That is the good news. No active Tornado Warnings. We are not out of the woods yet. Statesville to charlotte, is south toward headache wiley and 77, all of the areas in yellow, these are still Severe Thunderstorm Warnings, so here in the charlotte area, we have Severe Weather. Fur to the south, it continues. This is i85, mount holly to headache wiley. Anywhere where you are seeing the yellow, orange and red, that is very heavy, again, these have a Forward Motion of northeast component at 50 to 60 miles an hour. So that in and of itself had bring down the strong winds. To the north, this is statesville, highway 21, troutman, highway 70, again, strong thunderstorms, historying through the area. There you see some of the dangerous lightning. As we broaden out, again, this system moving to the northeast, rapidly, 50 miles an hour, behind that, beginning to settle down. We might see thunderstorms pop up this afternoon. We will keep an eye on that. A quick look at the sevenday forecast, for today, 70, cooler behind the front. Thank you. Thanks for watching. You can can get us 24 7 at wbtv. Com. We are seeing more images you have been sending to us of trees down. Social media. Chelsea oh, come on. Youre not scared of a little thunder, are you . Summer no, im im just scared about luca, that what i warned him about came true. [ door opens ] adam [ sighs ] it is not fun out there. And that little bit of snow that we gots already turned into ice. Chelsea im glad you made it home in one piece. Adam me, too. And what are you doing here . You taking refuge . Summer no, not exactly. Adam well, you can tell me about it over a drink. Hows that sound . Summer uh, why why a