A strong spring-like storm system brought heavy rain, thunder and lightning to metro Atlanta Friday morning, and winter-like temperatures filtering into the state Friday night could leave parts of Georgia blanketed in snow by Saturday morning.

The National Weather Service has issued a winter storm watch for a dozen counties across North Georgia, from Dahlonega northward. The watch, in effect from late Friday night through Saturday morning, calls for snow accumulations of around an inch, with 2 inches possible at higher elevations.

John Spink / AJC

Pedestrians navigate along Peachtree Street at Martin Luther King Boulevard on a soggy Friday morning.

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"It appears the most likely area for accumulating snow will be northwest of a line from Summerville to Ellijay to Dahlonega to Cleveland," the Weather Service said.

Forecasters predicted that the rain would likely change to snow by 4 a.m. Saturday in the northwest corner of the state and by 8 a.m. in areas further east, such as Union, Towns and White counties.

The forecast for metro Atlanta calls for a 60 percent chance of rain and thunderstorms early Friday night, with a mixture of rain and snow showers after midnight. Little or no snow accumulation is expected in the Atlanta area, the Weather Service said.

Lows Friday night will be in the mid-30s, forecasters said.

Saturday will be mostly cloudy and cold, with a 20 percent chance of snow showers in the morning and highs only in the upper 30s — about 25 degrees below normal for early March.

Saturday night and Sunday will be partly cloudy, with lows in the mid-20s and highs Sunday in the upper 50s.