The Triangle will get its first bout of the year with tropical weather as Tropical Storm Elsa moves through the area later today.

“The center of the storm is actually going to go right over the Triangle area, or just to the west,” says National Weather Service meteorologist Kathleen Carroll. She says the center of the storm will move through our area sometime in the early afternoon, “between noon and 3 pm.”

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Listen to Carroll’s full conversation on ‘This Morning with Aaron Keck’ on 97.9 The Hill.

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Fortunately for the region, Carroll says, the highest winds will stay along the coast — but Elsa will still bring significant weather to the central part of North Carolina. Current forecasts include 2 to 3 inches of rain, with more possible in isolated spots, and occasional wind gusts up to 20 miles an hour.

By evening, though, Carroll says the storm should largely have passed through North Carolina.

“The center of Elsa is supposed to be up into Richmond by about 8 pm tonight,” she says. “So you may see some lingering breezy conditions, but for the most part, by sunset, Elsa should be out of here.”

The entire Triangle is under a flash flood watch through Thursday afternoon. In anticipation of the bad weather, Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools canceled after-school camp programs, all-day summer camps and all extracurricular activities for Thursday.

 

Photo via the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.


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