Near-hurricane-strength storm could reach Charlotte area, Hurricane Center maps show

A storm developing into a "major hurricane" is expected to barrel into the Charlotte area later this week, National Hurricane Center officials said Monday. But it's unclear how intense it will be when it arrives here.

Winds associated with a tropical disturbance in the Caribbean Sea are forecast to intensify to near-hurricane-force Tuesday night and turn the storm into a major hurricane near the northeastern Gulf Coast on Thursday, according to a National Hurricane Center bulletin at 11 a.m. Monday.

The storm could reach the Carolinas, including the Charlotte area, on Friday, according to a National Hurricane Center bulletin at 11 a.m. Monday.

The Florida Panhandle and parts of Florida's West Coast should brace for "life-threatening storm surge and damaging hurricane-force winds," center officials said.

The storm has a 90% chance of forming, according to the Miami-based National Hurricane Center.

Weather models were increasingly confident of precipitation for Friday or Saturday in Charlotte, meteorologist Jake Wimberley of the NWS office in Greer, South Carolina, told The Charlotte Observer on Saturday.

In a hazardous weather outlook bulletin Monday morning, the NWS office said: "A tropical system is expected to strengthen over the Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday and Thursday and will likely impact our area towards the end of the week.

"This system could produce excessive rainfall and gusty winds across the western Carolinas."

The Charlotte area could see even more rain if the disturbance combines with a wet weather system from the Midwest, Wimberley said.