noffen@heraldsun.com; 419-6646
DURHAM -- Get ready to hunker down. It could get nasty out there.
The National Weather Service is expecting a significant storm and "severe weather" to hit the area -- in fact, the whole state -- today.
"We could see thunderstorms, a couple of inches of rain, possible damaging winds and you can't rule out a potential tornado," said Ryan Ellis, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service's office in Raleigh. "It's going to hit us pretty hard."
The problem is a low-pressure storm system that's been sitting over the Southwest for the past several days and is now turning east and quickly heading our way. It should get here by the early evening, bringing heavy rain.
By late in the evening and into Thursday morning, it should become downright blustery.
"We could have winds reaching 30 or 40 miles an hour," Ellis said. "People should prepare for that, bring things inside, tie things down, things like that."
By Thursday afternoon, the bad stuff should be gone and skies should be mostly clear, the weather service says.
