CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Thousands of people still don't have power this morning after high winds yesterday. Duke Energy is reporting about 15,600 outages. That's a big improvement from last night's peak of 69,000.

We're told it won't all be restored until about noon in Charlotte, 6 p.m. for Salisbury, Kannapolis and Mooresville and as late as 11 p.m. in upstate South Carolina.

PHOTOS: Wind topples trees

Highs today will only get into the upper 40s for the most of the Piedmont and snow will continue to fall throughout the afternoon in the mountains. Temperatures will get stuck in the 20 most of the day in the mountains. Boone could see 3-5 inches of snow.

Charlotte will see the coldest air in several days tonight as lows dip into the mid 20s.

Saturday things will warm up a little ahead of a fast moving cold front, which could bring a few showers before colder air moves back in Saturday night for the Panthers playoff game.

The first wave of rain and strong winds came through Wednesday morning. A second wave with wind gusts up to 60 mph came through Wednesday afternoon, knocking out power to 50,000 customers in South Carolina.

Sustained winds of 25 to 35 mph were reported throughout the day. A wind advisory was in effect until midnight.

The gusts toppled trees in several areas, including uptown Charlotte where a tree fell onto a pickup truck on West Trade Street between Popular and Church streets. No one was injured.

A family on Archdale Drive was forced out of their home when a large tree fell on top of it. The crash caused a hole in the roof and debris fell into one of the rooms.

"That was my granddaughter's room and I'm so glad that she wasn't here because she would have been hurt," said homeowner Scott Ackerman.

The wind also caused delays at Charlotte Douglas International Airport. Arriving flights were delayed up to 45 minutes.

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