For the third day in a row, major storms came through the Upstate and western North Carolina Thursday.
In Asheville, hundreds of trees were blown down, with the hardest hit areas being in Candler and West Asheville. Several thousand people lost power.
In the Upstate, from Anderson to Gaffney, numerous trees landed on homes. The Berea, Williamston, Gaffney areas, and Laurens County once again, were hit by heavy rain and winds, but the damage was not as severe as the other evening in Laurens.
There were unconfirmed reports of funnel clouds in Cherokee and Union Counties.
At Stevens Aviation in Greer, a hanger was damaged by the high winds, and trees were blown onto cars in the airport’s Economy Lot.
The stormy weather will give way to very hot temperatures on Friday.
**Thursday 5:30pm**
Damage Reports
GREENVILLE COUNTY
-Berea, trees and Power lines down. Report of damage at Steven’s Aviation at GSP.
SPARTANBURG COUNTY:
-Off Highway 11, golf ball sized hail, heavy wind and lightning.
BUNCOMBE COUNTY
-Candler and West Asheville: power lines and trees down
UNION COUNTY
-Trees blocking some back roads in county.
ANDERSON COUNTY
-Williamston, Small trees and power lines down.
**Thursday 3:30am Update**
The National Weather Service has issued a thunderstorm watch for much of Upstate South Carolina and Western North Carolina.
Storm Team 7 Meteorologist Dan Bickford says the watch area doesn’t include Greenville, Spartanburg or Asheville.
The watch is effective until 6:00pm Thursday evening.
Storm Team 7 says the number of thunderstorms in the area will be fewer compared to recent days, but everyone in the Carolinas will be facing temperatures heading to and beyond 90 degrees Thursday.
Meteorologist Dan Bickford says our temperatures will get a noticeable boost while reducing our rain chances.
Some scattered thunderstorms will remain possible through Thursday evening, but they should be fewer in number. The mountains will be more favored for development.
Temperatures in the Upstate are expected to reach the 90s Thursday afternoon and will be even higher on Friday.
The National Weather Service has issued a heat advisory for four counties in the South Carolina Lowcountry. The advisory is for Allendale, Beaufort, Hampton and Jasper counties from 11:00am Thursday until 9:00pm.
Dan says a cold front will make temperatures more seasonable on Saturday. Get the complete Live Vipir Forecast by clicking here
Duke Energy Offers Tips that Lead to ‘Cool Savings’
1. Close window coverings during the day. During peak cooling hours, solar heat gain can account for one-third of the load on an air conditioner. When home, close the drapes on the sunny side of the house or close all window coverings if leaving for the day.
2. Raise the thermostat setting. Cooling below 75 degrees in the summer can double a bill. For each degree cooled below 78, cooling bills can rise by as much as 10 percent. On the other hand, raising the thermostat from 73 degrees to 76 degrees could save 30 percent on air conditioning costs.
3. Close windows at night. While it’s tempting to give the air conditioner a rest on cool nights, watch the weather forecast before opening the windows at night. If tomorrow is going to be hot again, keep the air conditioning on and the home closed through the night to keep the humidity out of house. Humidity is a significant load on an air conditioner.
4. Insulate attic ducts. If air conditioning ducts are visible in an attic, more insulation is probably needed on these ducts. Cool air ducts in a 120-degree attic in the summertime need to be fully buried under 6 inches of insulation. In other words, they need to be out of sight. The factory insulation on these ducts is usually only about 1 inch thick and not adequate for hot attics. Heat absorbed by exposed attic ducts can add 20 percent to 40 percent to your bills.
5. Upgrade to high-efficiency air conditioning. New, high efficiency, 13 SEER air conditioners will use only half the energy compared to a 15-year-old air conditioner. If an air conditioner is 10 years old or less, maintain it well and keep it. If it is between 10 years to 15 years old, minor repairs are okay. If an air conditioner is older than 15 years and needs substantial repairs, the best alternative is to replace it with a new, high-efficiency system.
6. Properly size the air conditioner. A properly sized air conditioner is very important for comfort, humidity control and energy bills. When buying a new air conditioner, it should be properly sized based on a detailed energy analysis of the home. Avoid the common mistake of a little bump-up for good measure.
7. Replace old refrigerators. Many faithful old refrigerators seem to run forever and it’s so easy to find an unused electric outlet in the garage. But an old refrigerator may use twice-as-much energy as a new energy-efficient refrigerator. Refrain from putting the old one in the hot garage where it is only partially filled and only seldom used. This seemingly resourceful action could add $180 per year to an energy bill.
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