More rain on the way Tuesday night

A day after the state’s climatologist declared the drought officially over in most of north Georgia, the first of two more rain-making weather systems pushed toward metro Atlanta early Tuesday.

The National Weather Service said a frontal system will likely produce an inch of rain across north Georgia late Tuesday into Wednesday, with as much as 3 to 4 inches of rain possible across central and southern parts of the state.

The rain should taper off Wednesday night, with another cold front arriving late Thursday, forecasters said.

That system “also seems to be a good precipitiation producer, with another 1 to 2 inches expected,” the Weather Service said.

On Monday, state climatologist David Stooksbury said that an usually wet March “has brought major drought relief to North Georgia.

Except for the Lake Lanier and Lake Hartwell basins, “the remainder of north Georgia is drought-free,” Stooksbury said.

The Weather Service has recorded 7.12 inches of rain so far this month at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, a surplus of 1.89 inches. For the year, the city’s official rain gauge has tallied 13.70 inches of rain, only 1.24 inches below normal.

The forecast for metro Atlanta calls for mostly cloudy skies, with a 40 percent chance of showers and highs in the low 60s Tuesday afternoon.

The chance of rain jumps to 100 percent overnight, before falling back to 30 percent on Wednesday. Lows Tuesday night will be in the low 50s, followed by highs Wednesday in the upper 60s.

Thursday will begin mostly sunny, with a 40 percent chance of shower and thunderstorms during the afternoon, when highs will be in the mid-70s, the Weather Service said.

A 90 percent chance of rain is predicted for Thursday night, along with lows around 50 degrees.

Partly sunny skies, highs in the upper 60s and a 20 percent chance of showers are forecast for Friday.

The first part of the weekend should be nice, with mostly sunny skies and temperatures in the mid-70s on Saturday, followed by a 40 percent chance of rain on Sunday.