Holiday weekend plans hit a hard pause Sunday evening in Burke and McDowell counties when a severe thunderstorm warning snapped foothills communities from Morganton to Marion and Lake James to attention. Radar and local emergency alerts marked the storm as capable of producing damaging straight-line winds and hail, with forecasters warning of gusts near 60 mph. The warning included major roads and lakeside recreation spots at an hour when many people were still outside, and officials urged everyone to head indoors and secure loose items to cut the risk from falling trees and downed power lines.
As reported by The Charlotte Observer, the National Weather Service Greenville-Spartanburg office issued the alert at about 6:15 p.m., keeping it in place until 7:15 p.m. The Observer’s breakdown lists Morganton, Marion, Valdese, Drexel, Glen Alpine, Lake James State Park, Table Rock, Lake James, Nebo and Pleasant Gardens among the communities in the path of the storm.
Tracking the storm cell…