The opening weekend of the high school football season will find fans dodging isolated thunderstorms Saturday, but the chance of rain disappears from the forecast by Sunday.
Channel 2 meteorologist Karen Minton said Saturday should be partly sunny, with a 40 percent chance of storms, highs in the mid-80s and lows in the low 70s.
Minton’s forecast for Sunday calls for sunny skies and high in the mid-80s. That forecast will hold over into Monday and Tuesday, when temperatures will be a few degrees cooler.
The drier weekend forecast means road crews will be out in force, blocking interstate lanes for several projects.
Up to three lanes of I-285 in each direction will be blocked between Riverside Drive and Roswell Road through 5 a.m. Monday.
“This work will begin with the three inside lanes closed in both directions and progress during the weekend to a point where the closure will be shifted to three outside lanes in each direction,” said Jill Goldberg, spokeswoman for the Georgia Department of Transportation.
“Very heavy delays are expected and motorists are advised to avoid the top-end Perimeter through the weekend if at all possible,” Goldberg said.
She said overhead sign erection on the Downtown Connector will require crews to close the north and southbound HOV lanes between Martin Luther King Jr. and Northside drives nightly from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m.
In Douglas County, the left lane of I-20 eastbound near Lee Road will be closed from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, while in Henry County, one northbound and two southbound lanes of I-75 near Hudson Bridge Road will be closed Saturday night from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m.
Weekend events downtown include Saturday’s Corky Kell Classic high school football games, which run all day at the Georgia Dome.
The games kick off with Kell vs. Chattahoochee at 9 a.m., followed by Peachtree Ridge vs. Walton at 11:45 a.m., Grayson vs. Colquitt County at 2:30 p.m., North Gwinnett vs. Camden County at 5:30 p.m. and Brookwood vs. McEachern at 8:30 p.m.
Next door to the Dome at Philips Arena, the Atlanta Dream play Chicago at 7 p.m. Saturday.
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