THURSDAY’S WEATHER: Morning sprinkles to clear before sunny, warm afternoon

A slight chance of a shower Thursday morning shouldn’t cause too many problems for metro Atlanta commuters.

Sprinkles are most likely in the western suburbs and stretching up into northwest Georgia, according to Channel 2 Action News meteorologist Brian Monahan. But the air underneath the rain clouds is pretty dry, Monahan said, and most of the moisture is evaporating before it reaches the ground.

“Overall, rain chances are running at about 10% today, and that will be through about late this morning,” he said. “By the afternoon, here comes that sunshine.”

Monahan is expecting about eight hours of sunshine Thursday once the clouds move out, pushing temperatures from their mild start in the 50s into the upper 70s. The projected high for Atlanta is 76 degrees.

North Georgia can look forward to “nothing but sunshine” Friday and Saturday with highs in the 80s both days, he said. There could be a few more clouds Sunday, but a high of 84 degrees is in the forecast as the region stays dry.

“Next week, we’ll see more widespread rain develop,” Monahan said. “That will be after the weekend, though. The weekend should be nice and dry.”

Those are the kinds of conditions that could really aggravate pollen levels. Levels dropped Wednesday back to 494 pollen particles per cubic meter of air, down from 1,423 on Tuesday, according to Atlanta Allergy and Asthma.

Monahan is expecting the pollen counts to start creeping up headed into the weekend, but humidity should remain low.

“As temperatures climb, you start to think: Is that mugginess coming back? Not yet,” he said. “Not in April, not in May. We usually wait until about Memorial Day, and even into June, before that humidity really starts to build.”

Atlanta's projected high Thursday is 76 degrees with a 10% chance of a morning shower.