The remnants of Tropical Storm Beryl will bring showers and thunderstorms to the Triangle on Wednesday, with potentially flooding rains in parts of southeastern North Carolina.

The leading edge of the storm was expected to arrive in the state overnight, with the heaviest downpours forecast for Wednesday. Then the storm will veer off to sea, where it could strengthen again to a tropical storm on Thursday, said Shawna Coakley, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Raleigh.

The weather service had issued flood and flash flood watches for several counties south and east of Raleigh. Johnston and Harnett counties were placed under a flash flood watch through Wednesday afternoon.

Beryl is now classified as a tropical depression because its winds are less than 39 mph. A tropical storm has winds between 39 and 73 mph. Hurricanes have sustained winds of at least 74 mph.

More than an inch of rain is possible in the Triangle, according to the weather service.

Hurricane season doesn’t officially start until Friday. Coakley said an early tropical storm is not necessarily an indicator that this will be a busy hurricane season. The National Weather Service predicts hurricane activity this season will be slightly above average, with seven to 15 named storms likely.

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