It's going to feel like summer this weekend.
The forecast is for dry days with temperatures in the 80s. The high in metro Atlanta on Saturday is expected to be 84 degrees, well above the average high of 71 degrees for this time of year, Channel 2 Action News meteorologist Brad Nitz said. And temperatures could reach 86 degrees Sunday, 3 short of the record high.
But it won't be nice everywhere.
A severe thunderstorm watch has been issued until 9 p.m. Saturday for extreme northeast Georgia, including Rabun and Habersham counties, Nitz said.
That system won't hit the locally. The heat will.
"We're going to bypass April, we're going to bypass May, we're going to bypass June and go straight into July," Channel 2 Action News chief meteorologist Glenn Burns told the AJC on Friday evening.
Enjoy it while you can. A cold front is expected to march across Atlanta on Monday, and when it meets the warm humid air that's been pushed in from the Gulf of Mexico, it could make for some wet and violent weather.
Burns expects some squalls, perhaps accompanied by hail and damaging winds sometime Monday.
After that, it will be back to spring, with sunny days and temperatures in the 70s for much of the work week.
Any rain will add to Atlanta's 2011 rainfall total of 16.05 inches, a surplus for the year of .83 inch. Several lakes, including Allatoona and Lanier, are at full pool.
If the rain holds off, several ongoing interstate construction projects will again be in full swing this weekend.
The repaving project on I-75 in Cobb and Fulton counties will require double lane closures in both directions between Cumberland Boulevard and the Techwood/16th Street/14th Street exit from 8 p.m. Friday through 5 a.m. Monday.
Also closed throughout the weekend will be the southbound exit and entrance ramps at Mt. Paran Road as well as the northbound exit ramp to Mt. Paran and the ramp from I-85 southbound to I-75 northbound.
On the west side, crews will be working on bridge joints in the two left westbound lanes of I-20 near Six Flags Parkway.
Near the airport, maintenance crews will be making drainage repairs on I-85 southbound between Spur 14/Ga. 279 and I-285. Mark McKinnon, a spokesman for the state Department of Transportation, said that work will require three left lanes to be closed each day from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m.
With all the construction going on, Braves fans without prepaid parking spots are being urged to ride MARTA, taking the newly-reinstated MARTA Braves shuttle bus from Underground Atlanta to Turner Field. Under the scaled-back schedule, buses will operate starting 90 minutes before each game, and continue operating for an hour after the end of festivities, or until the shuttle pickup line has been cleared.
Other weekend events scheduled downtown include Thrashers games on Friday night and Sunday afternoon at Philips Arena, and a Lil' Wayne concert Saturday night at the arena.
--Angel K. Brooks contributed to this article.
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