Temperatures are dropping across North Georgia as a cold front that brought storms to the region overnight continues to slip south.
The rain is gone, but humidity and cloud cover remain Friday morning, according to Channel 2 Action News meteorologist Brian Monahan. As the front moves into South Georgia, the clouds will clear, the air will thin, and much cooler air will settle in, Monahan said.
“That’s going to mean increasing sunshine for us and a pretty clear afternoon for us,” he said. “A mostly sunny sky for us today with temperatures by the afternoon only in the 40s in the North Georgia mountains, low 50s in Atlanta, and we’ll top out around 57 this afternoon in Eatonton.”
The late-night storms brought down trees and knocked out power to thousands in North Georgia. In Pickens County, fallen trees and power lines caused vehicle accidents in the area of Ga. 136 and shut down the road. The road has since been cleared and is passable Friday morning, according to the Pickens County Sheriff’s Office.
As of 6:30 a.m., lights were back on for most Georgia Power customers. The power company was reporting fewer than 100 outages across the state, with most in metro Atlanta and northwest Georgia.
The overnight rain also caused areas of flooding and shut down parts of I-20 in DeKalb County. On Friday morning, some DeKalb roads are still flooded, including Brockett Road at the ramp to U.S. 78.
Atlanta is in the 50s to start the day, and numbers are falling before sunrise. The city made it to 71 degrees Thursday afternoon, but Friday’s afternoon temperatures will be 20 degrees lower, according to Channel 2.
Monahan said the cooler weather will be short-lived. Saturday’s projected high is 57 degrees, and Sunday should be even warmer with a projected high of 60. Mornings this weekend will be chilly, however, with lows in the 30s in the forecast for both days.
There is no rain in the forecast this weekend, but showers return to the forecast for the start of next work week, according to Channel 2.
“Next week is going to be kind of a wet week. It’s also going to be a pretty warm week,” Monahan said. “We’ve got temperatures in the 70s in the forecast next week. We have just a couple of days (this week) where these temperatures start to drop back.”
Credit: Channel 2 Action News
Credit: Channel 2 Action News
Pavement may be wet Friday morning, but commuters will not have to contend with any major delays on metro Atlanta interstates, according to WSB 24-hour Traffic Center. Traffic is moving smoothly on highways inside the Perimeter, the Traffic Center reported at 6:30 a.m.
East of the city, a car carrier crash has a left lane closed on Ga. 316 at Cedars Road. Traffic reporter Mike Shields expects this to be an extensive cleanup and will cause issues for those headed into Dacula.
» For a detailed forecast, visit The Atlanta Journal-Constitution weather page.
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