FRIDAY’S WEATHER | Morning downpours, scattered showers later

It’s a rainy start to December in metro Atlanta, so don’t forget the rain gear if you plan to get out of the house today or over the weekend.

Widespread downpours will blow into the area from the west starting around 8 a.m. Friday and will linger through the late morning, Channel 2 Action News meteorologist Jennifer Lopez said.

“We get a break with it just becoming scattered showers through the afternoon, but then for tonight, it kind of kicks back up,” she said.

Tail lights from vehicles on Martin Luther King Jr. Drive near Central Avenue in downtown Atlanta made for a colorful wallpaper for a pedestrian passing by on the way to work on Friday morning.

By early Saturday morning, heavier rain will arrive and is expected to stick around for much of the weekend. Rain clouds will start to clear out by late Sunday, paving the way for a dry Monday, Lopez said. Clouds will still be around then, but we should get sunny skies for most of next week.

With all the rain, temperatures are staying mild. We’ll be up near 60 degrees in the city on Friday, and we’ll see some mid to upper 60s over the weekend. Slightly cooler air is expected next week, but highs shouldn’t dip below the mid 50s.