Nicole moving into western North Carolina

Nicole headed into western NC(Jim Howard)

Hurricane Nicole made landfall near Vero Beach, FL at 3:00 a.m. Thursday morning. The storm had sustained winds of 75 mph at landfall.

As of 10:00 a.m. Friday morning, Nicole’s winds were down to 30 mph. The center of the system is moving into Western North Carolina. The motion is north-northeast at 23 mph.

The current track and intensity will bring widespread showers with isolated thunderstorms to eastern NC through Friday evening. Rainfall totals will likely run around an inch, with isolated higher totals. Wind gusts from 25-35 mph, with higher gusts along the immediate coast are forecast. Water level rises of 1-3 feet will be possible along the soundside of the Outer Banks north of Hatteras Friday night and Saturday. Isolated tornadoes cannot be ruled out with some of the tropical downpours Friday.