As the area’s heat wave peaks, central North Carolina and the Triangle have a chance of severe storms headed into the Labor Day weekend.
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“The fact that it is so crazy hot and humid means there’s lots of fuel for thunderstorms today, a lot of energy for them,” said Jonathan Blaes, meteorologist in charge at the National Weather Service’s Raleigh office. “Anytime we’re going to get thunderstorm this time of year they have the potential to produce lightening, obviously, but also downbursts. Strong, localized, real strong winds, so that’s our main threat today.”
A heat advisory is in effect from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 4, with Raleigh forecasted to be around 100 degrees again with a heat index of 107 degrees. That came after Raleigh broke the record yesterday, reaching 101 degrees at the Raleigh-Durham International Airport.
On Friday, most of the Triangle is under a Level 1, or marginal risk of severe storms, that could produce damaging wind gusts.
“In terms of timing in the Triangle area, I probably won’t deviate too much from the kind of typical summer time hours of maybe starting from 3 to 8 o’clock or so,” Blaes said. “It looks like the coverage is probably going to be favored from Raleigh, north and east in general, but really anywhere in the Triangle is going to be susceptible to thunderstorms during those hours.”
On Saturday, temperatures will remain high with all of central North Carolina under a Level 2, or slight, risk of severe storms in particular wind gusts. There could be several rounds of thunderstorms starting midday on Saturday and continue into the evening.
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“It doesn’t mean it’s going to be stormy that whole time, it’s just the window of when storms are most likely,” he said. “I wouldn’t cancel anything tomorrow because of storms. The heat’s probably the biggest worry about when you plan to do things. Being outside right now is just gross and really hard for anybody.”
But, he said, if people are outside or on the water, to be prepared that storms could form quickly bringing lightening and damaging winds.
“Limit time outdoors this weekend if possible but be sure to stay hydrated if working or playing outside,” according to the North Carolina Emergency Management’s hazardous weather update on Friday. “Wear light and loose-fitting clothing and take frequent breaks in the shade.”
Things should cool down considerably on Sunday and into early next week with temperatures in the 80s, but it will likely be short-lived, Blaes said.
“This could qualify as the ‘false fall’ that many folks who live around here are very familiar with, where we get a little cool weather and folks rejoice and put the pumpkins out, and it’s back in the 90s at least for a few days.
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This story was originally published September 4, 2026 at 11:05 AM.