Wednesday Morning

Hoke under tropical storm watch, flash flood watch, 4-8 inches of rain possible, winds potential 39 to 57 mph....

Latest tweaks from National Weather Service: "The biggest changes in the models since the last
update appear to be with the timing, slowing the acceleration of the
hurricane slightly. With the slow down expect the peak impacts to
occur from Thursday evening into Friday morning. Updates to the
forecast with this cycle include delaying slightly the onset time
for precipitation across the southern counties and on the opposite
end, moving the end time back in the east until later Friday
afternoon. Not all models are showing this decrease in forward speed
however, and so the changes are relatively minor. This does however
increase the amount of QPF slightly with current storm total values
between 1-2 inches for Raleigh, 2-5 inches along the I-95 corridor,
and 5-9 inches in the southeastern counties. With this in mind a
Flash Flood Watch will be in effect from 4 AM Thursday until 12 PM
Friday. With the increase in QPF values, the likelihood of river
flooding will also increase particularly along the Cape Fear and
Neuse River basins.

As far as winds are concerned, values remain about the same, with
max wind gusts of 30-40 mph across the forecast area with 40-50 mph
along the I-95 corridor and 50-60 mph possible in the southeastern
counties. With the possible increase in rainfall this could saturate
soils further, making it easier to down trees which could lead to
more power outages. At this time tornadoes do not appear to be much
of a threat given that central NC will be on the weaker left side of
the storm."