Severe weather risk after midnight, wind gusts up to 40 mph possible

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) — After a record-setting weekend weather wise, Monday was soggy, with spotty showers across the Triangle in the morning.

On Monday evening, showers lingered throughout the area.

A new system passing Tuesday brings a bigger threat — damaging winds.

A Wind Advisory begins around 3 a.m. Tuesday morning and lasts until noon. The highest wind gusts happen between 4 a.m. and 11 a.m. and could top 40 mph.

It will be sunny on Tuesday, however, with highs in the upper 50s. Wednesday will look similar but without the wind.

The warm front will be closer to the North Carolina-South Carolina border so that is where the higher risk will be.

Duke Energy said it is on high alert Monday night and into Tuesday for the possibility of strong wind gusts pulling down trees and power lines.

Because this is considered a statewide storm, Duke Energy is not bringing in crews from other parts of the state but spokesperson Jeff Brooks said workers are prepared.

The utility is increasingly using self-healing technology to help keep the lights on.

“It doesn’t eliminate the outage itself. You still have to send a crew out to do the damage repair, but it can reduce the number of customers impacted by that outage by as much as 75%,” Brooks said. “And can restore power sometimes in just a few seconds.”

We’ll dry out until Saturday — and even then there is just a 20% chance of showers and better yet, no risk of severe storms.