Thousands without power as strong thunderstorms race through Charlotte area

Strong storms packing half-inch hail and 40-mph wind gusts knocked power out to thousands in the Charlotte area on Saturday afternoon, officials said.

About 10,600 Duke Energy customers in the Carolinas remained without power at 5:45 p.m. and 8,883 at 6 p.m. including more than 800 in China Grove, north of Kannapolis, and about 400 in west Charlotte, including about 300 near the airport, according to the company outage map.

Just before 3 p.m., Doppler radar tracked strong thunderstorms moving at 20 mph along a line extending from 5 miles northwest of uptown to 4 miles east of Rock Hill, National Weather Service meteorologists said in a special weather statement.

The warning area included Mecklenburg, Gaston, Union and Cabarrus counties and York and Chester counties in South Carolina.

No damage was immediately reported.

Sunday has a 30% repeat chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly after 2 p.m. according to the NWS Charlotte forecast at 6 p.m. Saturday.

The threat increases to 40% late Sunday and up to 80% on Monday, the forecast shows. Expect a 60% chance of showers on Tuesday and a 40% chance Wednesday, before the chance of showers and thunderstorms rises to 60% again Thursday, according to the NWS.

Charlotte reached 90 degrees Saturday and is predicted to hit 91 Sunday, NWS meteorologists said. Highs could then cool to 80 Monday and 73 Tuesday before rebounding to 81 Wednesday, the forecast showed.