This year marks the 67th annual lighting of the WRAL-TV tower in Raleigh, an annual tradition that has grown to include celebrations with towers at American Tobacco Campus in Durham and Rocky Mount Mills.


WRAL Tower Lighting: WRAL lights the towers in Raleigh, Durham and Rocky Mount

WRAL Tower Lighting

Michelle Mackonochie - familiar to WRAL viewers after five years as part of the morning news team - will anchor the 4 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. newscasts with Dan Haggerty, and the 10 p.m. and 11 p.m. newscasts with Gerald Owens. 

WRAL welcomes Michelle Mackonochie to evening newscasts beginning Jan. 5

Michelle Mackonochie

What it really means to be an organ and bone marrow donor

Stay up to date with WRAL’s Weather-forecast news and reporting coverage

Weather-forecast News and Reporting Coverage | WRAL

Weather-forecast Coverage

All fire departments urge the public to avoid burning outdoors until further notice. The combination of gusty winds (we're expected to feel winds up to 30 mph), dry conditions and low humidity, on top of severe drought conditions, can stir rapid fire growth. 

NC fire officials call for pause to outdoor burns due to dry conditions

All fire departments urge the public to avoid burning outdoors until further notice.

Some National Weather Service offices are reducing and even suspending balloon launches due to staffing issues.

Ask the Meteorologist: Will the reduction of weather balloon launches affect the forecast?

A critical weather tool is disappearing. How fewer weather balloons could put you more at risk during a storm.

Get the latest WRAL WeatherCenter Forecast whenever you need it, including the DUALDoppler5000 and the 7-Day Forecast.

<p>I'm meteorologist Elizabeth Gardner. We saw a good soaking rain yesterday, anywhere from 0.5 inch to over 1 inch of rain. Well, the front that brought us that rain yesterday has stalled down in South Carolina and Georgia. It will gradually lift northward during the day today, so by mid-morning to mid to say middle of the afternoon, we're going to see some rain pushing back into our area. It's likely to come as far north as the triangle area, so we'll see that increase in the rain after the morning commute, and it moves. Out before the evening commute. You can see that window of opportunity there between say 10 and 2. That's when we get into around a 40% chance of rain. Because of the clouds that we're seeing, it is going to be a cool day for us today too. We're starting mid to upper 40s in the morning and expect highs only in the mid-50s. All of this moves out in time for the weekend. It still looks great. We'll see clearing skies on Saturday with mid 60s and sunshine with low to mid 70s on Sunday.</p>