Rain Starting 5 AM | North Carolina Weather 6 AM

Good morning! I'm Aaron Jolly. And welcome to the North Carolina Weather Podcast. It's Thursday, February 26th. Hear that tapping on your window? That's today's headline. Rain is moving across North Carolina right now. And it's not messing around. The Triangle catches the brunt of it. Showers ramped up around 5 A.M. And they're sticking around most of the day. Some spots could pick up one to two inches. Highs reach 61 degrees with gusts near 20 miles an hour. That damp chill is going to cut right through a hoodie, so grab an actual jacket. Over in the Piedmont, rain peaks around midday. Highs hit 62 degrees. Winds gust to 24 miles an hour this afternoon, enough to flip your umbrella inside out if you're not paying attention. The good news? Rain wraps up by mid afternoon. Push west into the mountains and Asheville stays cooler at 59 degrees. Rain tapers off by 2 P.M. With only about a half to three quarters of an inch total. A quieter day up there. Tonight everyone settles into the 40s. A few straggler showers linger south and east. Now the payoff.. Friday clears to partly sunny skies and mid 50s. But the weekend is the real story. Saturday brings sunshine and 65 to 67 degrees. Sunday pushes into the low 70s. That's 32 degrees above normal for late February. Patio weather in February. I'm not complaining. Early next week reality checks in. A stalled front drags rain back Monday and Tuesday with highs only in the low 50s. One more thing worth noting. We're gaining over two minutes of daylight every day now. Sunrise at 6:50, sunset at 6:07. Spring equinox is three weeks out. Today's soaker is actually helping ease drought conditions. So let the rain do its work. The weekend reward is worth it. That's your forecast — we'll be back tomorrow.