Mid-November heat wave could break metro Atlanta temperature records
It’s a real weather whiplash: metro Atlanta temperatures are expected to reach near-record highs over the next few days, just a week after North Georgia froze over.
Daily highs in the city will flirt with the 80-degree mark through Friday. That is well above the average 63-degree peak temp for this time of year, and there is a 70% chance that decades-old records could be tied or broken, according to the National Weather Service.
“It’s going to feel a lot more like early fall,” Channel 2 Action News meteorologist Brian Monahan said.
And the warm trend likely will stay with us at least through Thanksgiving.
In Atlanta, the temperature records that could be threatened are:
- 80 degrees on Wednesday, set in 1942.
- 79 degrees on Thursday, set in 1979.
- 77 degrees on Friday, set in 2011.
Thursday has the best chance to break the record with a projected high of 80 degrees, according to Monahan. The NWS predicts a 79-degree high, which would still tie with the highest since recordkeeping began in 1878.
The unusually warm weather pattern is brought to us thanks to the “cold part of the jet stream … (staying) way back to the north,” Monahan added. “It’s going to stay there for the next week and a half or so, and we’ve got that warm bubble of air across the Southeast.”
The warmer weather might feel jarring after recent snow flurries, but it is no surprise. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s fall weather outlook predicted overall higher-than-average temperatures across the Southeast through November.
Aside from some showers rolling across North Georgia early Wednesday, there is not much rain in the forecast. The climate outlook also predicted a below-average amount of rain this season, and — sure enough — we’ve not seen much of it. Drought conditions have remained or even worsened across the state and fire dangers have increased thanks to the abundance of dry foliage.
The next best chance for rain — just 40% — comes Saturday, though some locations could see a few showers Friday. The Weather Service cautions that “improvements to the ongoing drought situation are unlikely as a result.”
