THURSDAY’S WEATHER: Cold start ahead of mostly sunny afternoon

Temperatures are in the 20s and 30s across North Georgia on Thursday morning, and those numbers will continue to drop before the sun comes up.

Channel 2 Action News meteorologist Brian Monahan said many neighborhoods in metro Atlanta will be at or near the freezing point by sunrise. That’s a good 20 to 25 degrees lower than on Wednesday morning, when heavy rain made a mess of the morning commute.

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“We’re not dealing with the rain, just the cold this morning — 24 (degrees) colder in Carrollton, 23 in Atlanta,” Monahan said. “Get out that big, heaviest coat you’ve got to keep yourself warm this morning.”

The same cold front that brought the rain Wednesday is responsible for the chill in the air Thursday. Monahan is predicting it will stay cool all day, with temperatures topping out in the 50s under a mostly sunny sky this afternoon. Atlanta’s projected high is 56 degrees, which is slightly below average for this time of year.

A chilly day seems fitting for the first day of December, but this downward trend in temperatures ends Friday. According to Monahan, 60s return to the forecast this weekend.

“Our weather pattern is going to stay pretty mild here in North Georgia, so I do not see any chances for winter weather over the first couple of weeks of the month of December, when average highs are in the upper 50s,” he said. “After today and tomorrow, we should be in the 60s for a lot of the first several days of the month.”

Rain also returns to the forecast this weekend. Friday should be another nice, mainly dry day with a projected high of 57 degrees in Atlanta before showers move in Friday night, Monahan said. Saturday looks to be pretty wet for those headed to the SEC Championship game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

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“While this rain is going to be nothing, absolutely nothing like we saw yesterday — it’s not going to be that pouring rain coming down in buckets —it’s going to be showers and it’s going to be with us through the day on Saturday,” Monahan said.

He is calling for a 60% chance of a shower Saturday morning through at least the early part of the afternoon, during prime tailgating hours. The rain will clear up once a cold front moves to the south, he said, and Saturday night into Sunday is looking much drier.

Sunday should be the better of the weekend days with more clouds than sunshine and a 30% chance of a shower, according to the latest forecast.