Happy Saturday, North Carolina! The upper-level ridge will remain strong over the state, leading to partly to mostly sunny skies with hot temperatures. Highs will once again be in the low-mid 90s outside of the mountains with heat index values 98-105° if your working outside, please be careful. Leftover boundaries from last night storms and high CAPE values will allow for more scattered showers and thunderstorms to develop this afternoon and evening, mainly after 1 PM. Any storms that do develop will have gusty winds, possible microbursts, and heavy rainfall. A surface trough is located across the north, we will watch for thunderstorm develop across the Foothills first and push east toward the mid-afternoon, coverage will be about 30-40% of the state. One or two storms could be severe with microbursts. "A microburst is a localized column of sinking air (downdraft) within a thunderstorm and is usually less than or equal to 2.5 miles in diameter. Microbursts can cause extensive damage at the surface, and in some instances, can be life-threatening. per the definition NWS."
