North Carolina Forecast: Scattered showers drop in Thursday; severe storms headed our way

Don't put away your rain gear just yet; some spotty showers are possible Thursday morning. Morning temperatures will be mild in the upper 50s and lower 60s. "Keep rain gear handy into the evening hours," said WRAL Meteorologist Mike Maze. We will continue to see some scattered showers, mainly during the afternoon. It should be pretty light coverage. Friday will be a WRAL Weather Alert Day, with the area under a Level 1 risk for severe storms. A Level 1 severe risk is in place for Friday. Along with the possibility of severe storms, the main threats will be damaging winds and hail. Rain is forecasted to move in early Friday morning, as early as 1 or 2 a.m. Expect a messy morning commute. It won't be pouring all day long. Closer to lunchtime and the afternoon, there will likely be some breaks in the rain. Another round of rain will build in by the afternoon. This round will have a better chance of being severe. The rain may clear out by Friday night. One to two inches of rainfall will be possible, but some areas may see higher totals if thunderstorms cause flash flooding. We are also under a marginal excessive rainfall risk, which means there will be a low-end risk of flash flooding. Looking ahead at the weekend: The long-term outlook shows rain in the forecast this weekend for the eighth straight weekend. Saturday is still on track to be fairly dry with mostly cloudy conditions and a slight chance of rain. It will be a better day to be outdoors, with just a 20% chance for showers. More rain pushes in on Sunday. We could potentially see some stronger storms. As of yet, Sunday has not been declared a WRAL Weather Alert Day. As we usher in a new month, we also see later sunsets. We'll have light until 8 p.m. by Sunday, and keep those long evenings through the middle of August. On June 22, we'll have a 8:34 p.m. sunset, the latest sunset of the year. Above-normal temperatures are likely to return in May, but we may not get sustained warming until the second week of the month. Subscribe to WRAL:    / wral5   Follow WRAL: Facebook:   / wraltv   Twitter:   / wral   IG:   / wral   About WRAL-TV: WRAL is your Raleigh, North Carolina news source. Check out our videos for the latest news in Raleigh, local sports, Raleigh weather, and more at https://WRAL.com #localnews #northcarolina #weather