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In the midst of extreme heat, the Triangle could also see severe thunderstorms with damaging winds on Tuesday, Aug. 11.
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“Central North Carolina faces a dual threat today of dangerous heat and isolated severe weather,” according to a Tuesday morning weather briefing from the National Weather Service’s Raleigh office.
The storms could arrive during the afternoon commute with the National Weather Service forecasting the timing of potential storms from 5-10 p.m., as of 11 a.m. Tuesday.
There are no threats of tornados and hail, but most of Wake County and all of Durham, Orange and Chatham counties have a “low” or level 2 risk of wind damage, according to a mid-morning weather briefing from the National Weather Service. That’s forecasted to peak between 5-9 p.m.
The southeastern portion of Wake County and all of Johnston County have a “very low” or level 1 risk of wind damage, and forecasted to peak 6-10 p.m.
Very slow moving air cells ahead of a faster group of thunderstorms could bring 1-2 inches of rain an hour and isolated flooding, said Aaron Swiggett, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, shortly before 3 p.m.
“Although most of these cells should remain below (severe) limits as they are initially developing, some clustering and deeping is possible and may result in more frequent lightning and strong to severe wind gusts within wet microbursts (reaching) 40-60 miles per hour.”
“Strong to damaging wind gusts will be possible from clusters of thunderstorms in the Piedmont and northern Coastal Plain,” according to the National Weather Service.
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Summer thunderstorms can be hard to pin down exactly where they may pop up, Swiggett said.
“You can see a classic summertime pattern here, a very speckled nature of hit-and-miss, localized greater rainfalls over where a shower or thunderstorm falls apart, but then for the most part, a lot of people remaining dry,” he said.
Those potential storms come in the midst of extreme heat this week. Wake County has opened cooling stations through at least Friday, Aug. 14. (Here’s a list of all 29 locations and their hours.)
The forecasted high in Raleigh is 97 degrees, and the heat index (how the heat feels to a person) could reach 102 degrees.
Most of Wake and Durham counties face a “major” HeatRisk meaning the weather will affect anyone without enough cooling or hydration. The rest of the Triangle has a “moderate” HeatRisk.
Throughout the day Tuesday, the heat indices are forecasted from mid-90s to low-mid 100s in central North Carolina.
“Additionally, heat index values mostly between 100 and 105 degrees are expected each afternoon this week,” according to a hazard weather outlook from the National Weather Service.
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This story was originally published August 11, 2026 at 8:34 AM.