NC Sees Record-Breaking, Pavement-Buckling Heat Heat records are being shattered all over the country and it was so blazing in North Carolina that a highway buckled and had to close. The temperature reached 105 degrees Friday at Raleigh-Durham International Airport, tying an all-time record for the state capital. Authorities say it got so hot the pavement buckled on Interstate 440, closing the southbound lanes near the Interstate 40 west exit. Friday's highs of 103 in Charlotte and 101 at the Piedmont Triad International Airport broke records for the day. The hottest temperature ever recorded in North Carolina was 110 degrees in Fayetteville in August 1983. Nashville, Tenn., and Columbia, S.C., both broke their all-time recorded highs at 109 degrees.