Rain is falling across metro Atlanta on Friday morning, making for slippery travel conditions for the drive into work and school.
Temperatures in the low 50s are ensuring it all falls as rain. There is no chance for any wintry precipitation Friday morning, Channel 2 Action News meteorologist Brian Monahan said.
“Here’s the good news: We’re going to get rid of this rain pretty quickly,” he said. “As we go through the afternoon, it’s going to be mostly cloudy across North Georgia.”
Monahan expects most of the wet wet weather will clear out by 7 or 8 a.m. After that, you can forget about the umbrella as North Georgia turns dry but cloudy, he said.
Temperatures are not expected to move much throughout the day. Atlanta’s projected high is 52 degrees, according to Channel 2.
Monahan is expecting similar highs and another round of rain for Saturday. But dry air in place over North Georgia makes the forecast “pretty tricky,” he said, as it could cool things just enough to freeze the precipitation as it falls.
“We’re going to start dry for your Saturday morning,” Monahan said. “But late in the afternoon on Saturday, as rain starts to move in, we’re going to have the chance of some sleet possibly mixing in with some of that rain.”
The best chance for wintry mix is in the northeast Georgia mountains. But metro Atlanta could also get sleet and snow Saturday evening, according to Monahan.
“What’s working against us — if you want some accumulating snow — is the ground is going to be pretty warm,” he said. “A different story in the mountains, though.”
The higher ridgetops could see up to 2 to 3 inches of accumulation, while an inch or less is likely in lower elevations, he said.
Credit: Channel 2 Action News
Credit: Channel 2 Action News
The rain Friday morning has already contributed to two interstate shutdowns before 7 a.m. The northbound lanes of I-285 were blocked for more than four hours at the I-20 interchange before they reopened just before 6:30 a.m., according to the WSB 24-hour Traffic Center.
Lanes have also reopened on I-20 West before Thornton Road, the Traffic Center reported. There are still “big outbound delays through Lithia Springs,” traffic reporter Mark Arum said.
Drivers are encouraged to take U.S. 78 instead.
Another crash was causing delays on the Southside. A tractor-trailer wrecked on the I-285 West ramp to I-75 South in Clayton County. All lanes have been shut down at times, according to the Traffic Center.
» For a detailed forecast, visit The Atlanta Journal-Constitution weather page.
» For updated traffic information, listen to News 95.5 and AM 750 WSB and follow @ajcwsbtraffic on Twitter.
» Download The Atlanta Journal-Constitution app for weather alerts on-the-go.
About the Author
