FRIDAY’S WEATHER: Warming trend continues; rain holds off until New Year’s Eve

Clouds will blanket the metro Atlanta area Friday as the weather continues to warm, but rain is likely to hold off until later tonight or Saturday morning.

Friday will start cool, but not freezing, with temperatures in the low 40s around most of North Georgia, Channel 2 Action News meteorologist Brian Monahan said. The sun could peek through overcast skies later in the day, but the daylight hours will remain mostly cloudy with highs in the low 60s.

It should be another nice day to get outside.

“By Friday night, though, as we move toward midnight and Saturday morning, that’s when our next chance of rain moves in,” Monahan said. “Rain will be with us off and on during the day on New Year’s Eve day.”

Some isolated storms are possible Saturday, but scattered rain is most likely and should clear up in time for New Year’s Eve festivities, including the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl and the first Peach Drop in four years in downtown Atlanta.

“By New Year’s morning, on Sunday, drier weather moves in and we’ll make a run towards 70 degrees as we start off a brand new year,” Monahan said.

There won’t be a big, cold air mass behind the wet weather moving in, according to Channel 2, but the warm and sunny start to 2023 won’t last too long. More rain is expected to arrive in the middle of next week, followed by lower temperatures closer to metro Atlanta’s seasonal average by next Thursday.