North Georgia is looking at a couple more dry and warm days before storms and the next chance of severe weather return to the forecast.
A line of storms arriving early Thursday morning has the potential to turn severe, especially in parts of west Georgia, according to Channel 2 Action News meteorologist Brian Monahan. Ahead of that system, there is only sunshine in the forecast as Atlanta turns up the heat.
“We look great today,” Monahan said. “Temperatures are going to be up in the 70s for highs this afternoon, 80s as we go into tomorrow. Eighty-one degrees is our high on Wednesday, and then by Thursday rain and storms are in the forecast.”
Credit: Channel 2 Action News
Credit: Channel 2 Action News
Thursday morning is “going to be messy,” he said. Monahan expects heavy rain and storms to get going after midnight and continue through the first half of the day.
While Georgia’s neighbors to the west are at risk of a severe weather outbreak, the threat of damaging storms diminishes as the system crosses the state line, he said. Still, a wide area of North Georgia from Blairsville to Griffin and west to the Alabama line are under a Level 2 threat of severe weather.
Atlanta is also included in that risk area, which is considered enhanced, according to the National Weather Service.
“We’ll have very strong wind aloft as this line of storms comes in, and that could be enough to possibly produce a strong or severe storm,” Monahan said. “Not going to be a ton of storm energy, though. It’s kind of the same setup we saw last week where we get the heavy rain. Any storms should be isolated to scattered on Thursday morning.”
Until then, North Georgia should stay dry and warm, which could further contribute to rising pollen levels. Counts so far this season have hovered in the high range, but Monahan said pollen levels could reach the extremely high range by Wednesday.
Counts above 1,500 pollen particles per cubic meter of air are considered extremely high, according to Atlanta Allergy and Asthma, the organization that tracks the daily pollen count. As of Tuesday, Atlanta has yet to break into the quadruple digits.
In the past 24 hours, the allergy organization recorded 339 pollen particles per cubic meter of air. Tree pollens were the primary contributors, from trees like pine, oak, sweet gum and hackberry. That number is still considered high, Monahan said, but not yet extreme.
“What would help is some rain,” he said. “We are going to be able to wash some of that pollen out of the air a little bit later this week, but today and tomorrow those numbers should get pretty high.”
Credit: Channel 2 Action News
Credit: Channel 2 Action News
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