Eric Thomas Weather

15/06/2025

I'm hosting a birthday party and I'm celebrating by giving YOU gifts. It's true! No funny business, except for a few moments in this video.

Home Again Foundation's 7th birthday party is this Saturday June 21st 5:30pm at the Levine Sr. Center right behind Costco in Matthews.

We are giving away 10 free tickets to the first 10 requests who private message me here. Limit 4 per request.

Oh there's more... the first person who requests free tickets (and shows up) will receive a $50 weather radio from me. The second and third requests receive a Totes Umbrella *with* a built-in flashlight - see my post and picture below in the comments.

The free tickets are worth $20/piece and get ready for BBQ from Tickle My Ribs, Live entertainment from Jackson Cooke, a renowned Charlotte magician, a cash bar, photo booth and raffles.

All we ask in return is you share the news about Home Again Foundation's mission to help our local teachers, veterans and first responders find affordable housing!

Hope to see you Saturday!!!

12/06/2025

Here's one more quirky weather post. Yes, even meteorologists can get caught off guard with the weather. The other day, I failed to precheck the radar, and as soon as I took off, moderate to heavy rain suddenly started pounding on my drone, despite the sun shining.

Notice the rain on the left side of the shot as I ascend above the trees. The goal was to clear the trees, turn around and go right back. Turns out, when I did that, lo and behold there was a rainbow.

From this angle you can see precisely where the rainbow pushes down into the trees... pretty cool. Best of all my drone got back home without drowning in the downpour!

11/06/2025

Our good friends between Concord and Albemarle were lit up earlier on Tuesday evening between 7:30 and 8:00pm with a Severe Thunderstorm (yellow polygon) which can be issued for damaging winds and large hail. I don't know how much that verified, but I do know there was a heavy concentration of lightning.

This view is from my drone I launched 28 miles to the southwest near Matthews in Mecklenburg county.

05/06/2025

Attention golfers and Carolina Panthers fans! I was just invited to stop by "The Lenders Open", hosted by NEXT AGENT UP benefitting Bryce Young’s The Young 9 Foundation’s youth mental health mission.

I'm not sure what the total Panthers headcount is at this point, but Bryce Young will be there! You don't have much time, tee off is 10am this Friday at Emerald Lake Golf Club next to Matthews.

To buy tickets and get yourself or your team on board, Google "The Lenders Open Golf" and you'll see it right there. I avoid sharing web addresses for fear FB will restrict the reach.

As said, I'll be there, it's a GREAT cause; sadly, children are the group most at risk in the recent years. Here are some stats I clipped from the web site:

Why Support Mental Health Awareness?

For kids aged 5-15, mental health challenges loom large: 10-20% worldwide face issues like anxiety, depression, or behavioral disorders. In the U.S., 1 in 7 kids aged 3-17 had a diagnosed condition in 2018-2019, with rates climbing as they grow. Anxiety and behavior disorders hit 7-9%, depression strikes 4%, and suicide’s a top killer by age 15. It’s a crisis we can’t ignore.

03/06/2025

The passage of time never fails to startle me, but this probably takes the cake...

Many of you must remember 18 years ago in 2007 the horrific loss we all suffered as our dear friend and colleague, Meteorologist Melissa Greer, lost her battle to "large cell neuroendocrine carcinoma". I can't remember what I had for breakfast yesterday, but those four words have been seared into my brain since we all learned of this brutal cancer attacking Melissa way back then.

To make matters even more complicated, Melissa contracted this disease while she was pregnant. Doctors told her they could not combat this cancer with radiation while she was pregnant. Melissa's response was simple: Well then I guess we won't do radiation, because nothing will stand in the way of delivering my baby!

Having a front row seat to Melissa's heroic and courageous decision was a life-altering period for me. And I could not be happier to report that her handsome son - born to Melissa and Roger - just graduated which I'm sure sent waves of pride throughout their entire extended family and, yet again, served as a reminder of how Melissa changed the world for the better!!!

Congratulations Connor Polsky, and Melissa... I know you're watching!!!

30/05/2025

This is interesting. Hurricane season begins on Sunday June 1st. Normally you're not expecting a hurricane to be up and running on the first day of hurricane season in the Atlantic basin. However it is normal by this point to have a hurricane already happening somewhere around the globe in the northern hemisphere. So far, in 2025 that hasn't been the case. If we get to June 5th without a northern hemisphere hurricane, that will be the record latest date for a hurricane since 1970. Ava was the previous latest hurricane on June 4th in the Eastern Pacific.

With all that said, hurricane activity is expected to be above average this upcoming season, so don't let your guard down. Normally I would be directing that advice to people who live or have property down along the coast, but we all not only remember, but still pray for the recovery efforts in our North Carolina Mountains after Helene's destruction last year!

Finally in case you were wondering about trends here is a graph of hurricane activity since 1980. The top line represents hurricanes, the bottom line represents major hurricanes. Looks like there has been a slight downward trend for hurricanes during this period, and major hurricanes appear to be nearly flat.

25/05/2025

My doorbell camera alerted me, so I went to let in the cat and whoops!!! SURPRISE!!!

24/05/2025

When you hire a couple guys to paint your house, and you can't find a bucket of paint or a paintbrush, you know you've hired the right people! Not one inch of rotted wood has gone unrepaired!

Say hello to my Ukrainian friends/brothers Paul and Victor! The most honest, hardest working people you'll ever meet. This is their third straight (at least) 13 hour work day - on Memorial Day weekend yet!

Thank you guys from the bottom of our hearts!!!

09/05/2025

This is pretty much the team that was in place when I got here in 1988. It might be a little bit later, because I think Meg McDonald was the anchor first before Debbie Fabian (sp?) replaced her and I think that's Debbie.

Just to be clear, this was the team I and we at WBTV competed against. They were formidable for sure!

· I miss these guys….

By Cassie Smith

21/04/2025

Speaking of resurrections, look who's back? I just haven't had that much of any interest to post lately which is ok, I'm enjoying retirement. Can't believe it's already over three years!!

Happy Easter! Christ is Risen! This is outside of St. Gabe's earlier today with my wife Vickie and daughter Emily. I hope you had a blessed Easter weekend as well.

While we're counting our blessings, my good friend Susanna Kavanaugh with Least of These Carolinas asked me share Paul's story. My adoption was smooth, but not all are as lucky, and this guy has been abandoned by "parents" who adopted him. To make matters worse, he has Cerebral Palsy and needs a standing wheelchair.

If you are interested in learning more, and even spreading some Easter Love, give this link a look! Meantime, I'll try not wait so long to post again here soon! God Bless!!

https://lotcarolinas.networkforgood.com/projects/249241-meredith-fields-s-fundraiser

18/02/2025

The only update I can add at this point is the atmosphere does appear a bit more supportive of snow (Blue) later Wednesday, but the problem is (for snow lovers) we are dealing with a weaker storm system very far south of the Carolinas leaving little precipitation of any kind to fall up here.

With that said, the best chance of a brief snow burst may actually be Thursday morning around daybreak. If everything came together perfectly, a quick inch or so of snow could appear in spots around the Greater Charlotte Region.

17/02/2025

Shock is the only way I can describe my reaction when this arrived at my front door. I don't know how many of you still remember me doing the Forever Family series on WBTV News helping children in Foster Care find Forever Homes with a permanent, safe and loving family. I was adopted, so helping these kids was extra special for me paying forward all the opportunities I was given.

These awards aren't just honoring people around Charlotte, or NC or even the United States for that matter, it's across the globe. Here is their mission statement:

"Celebrating purpose & mission-driven work from people, companies and organizations worldwide".

So it is both a thrill and honor knowing how many other missions around the world were considered for this award. Of course all of the credit goes to the Founder and Executive Producer of Forever Family, Gia Tutalo-Mote who has committed her entire life to this cause and despite the fact we were unable to sustain the momentum here in NC, they are still going full steam ahead across the entire state of Florida.

Thanks again to WBTV News along with Fox 8 in Greensboro, Winston-Salem, High Point, WRAL in Raleigh and WECT in Wilmington for helping us carry this program statewide. And most of all thanks to our WBTV viewers who supported us and spread the word about this crisis in our own back yards!