Severe storms...

A couple of severe storms developed late this afternoon. Severe thunderstorm warnings were issued for Gaston and eastern Mecklenburg counties.

Damage reports I have heard of:

• Golf ball sized hail fell an covered the ground in Stallings in Union county
• Tree down on Hickory Grove Road in northeast Gaston county
• Nickel size hail and trees down in Mint Hill
• Quarter size hail near intersection of I-485 and Hwy 74
• 1.5" of rain just east of Matthews

Thank you so much to those of you that called in an emailed in storm reports. That is incredibly helpful to us in times of severe weather. All of the technology in the world can not beat a set of eyes in terms of telling you what is going on.

This final report from Paula Johnson near Matthews....
"The final rain total in my yard was 1.8 inches. Lot of small branches & leaves down all over the yard. A large branch from a sweet gum tree, heavy with leaves and green gum balls came down - not uncommon for that kind of tree in my yard - think it just got too heavy with the rain."

Things will be quiet overnight. The earlier storms were fired off by an outflow boundary from earlier storms up in the mountains.

Everyone have a great night. I will post from time to time over the next couple of days.