Raleigh area could see heavy rain, wind & hail through the weekend. Here’s what to expect

A cold front moving into the state brings the chance of hazardous weather to much of central and eastern North Carolina starting Thursday and carrying into the weekend , meteorologists say. That includes Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill.

Thursday forecast

The National Weather Service said a cold front draped over parts of Tennessee, West Virginia and Pennsylvania Thursday morning should track east-southeast into North Carolina through the day and would begin to cause scattered storms in the afternoon to late evening .

Though slight, the chance of storms is strongest from 3 p.m. 9 p.m. Thursday, with most storm activity waning after midnight , forecasters said.

Thursday’s storms could bring from 1 to 3 inches of rain that, on top of 2 to 4 inches that fell in some areas Wednesday night, could produce localized flooding until midnight.

Large hail and damaging winds are possible with severe storms , forecasters said.

What’s the weekend weather outlook?

The cold front is expected to stall over the state for a few days; showers and thunderstorms can be expected daily through Monday , the Weather Service said.

The greatest chance of storms is in the afternoons, and the greatest chance of flooding on Friday will be south and east of Raleigh, forecasters said.

Most of the region will continue to be under a marginal risk — level 1 of 4 — for excessive rainfall into the weekend .

How hot will it be? Temperatures will top out in the upper 80s to lower 90s through the weekend, though it will be humid and feel a few degrees warmer. Heat indices should remain below 100 degrees.