Rowan County and its surroundings are expected today to see severe weather that could include heavy rain, strong wind gusts and hail.

On Thursday afternoon, the National Weather Service in Greer, S.C., was projecting a band of thunderstorms to sweep across the Piedmont. The storms could produce strong to severe wind gusts and hail early this morning.

The storm system will move east of North Carolina’s Piedmont region by late this morning, according to the National Weather Service.

Salisbury is expected to receive about 1.3 inches of rain as a result of the storm system. Kannapolis is expected to receive about 1.5 inches of rain.

Rowan County Weather, a locally based service, predicts moderate to heavy rainfall Friday morning. Damaging winds could also be a concern, according to Rowan County Weather’s forecast.

The storm is expected to move quickly out of Rowan County. However, scattered storms could continue to drop precipitation on Rowan throughout the day.

There is no severe weather expected for Saturday.