Rain, freezing rain and snow are all in the forecast for north Georgia, just in time for the big Thanksgiving travel rush.
“We’re watching a weather system developing that’s going to put moisture in our area at the same time that we’re going to have some marginal temperatures,” Channel 2 Action News meteorologist Karen Minton said early Monday.
Minton said a winter weather advisory begins at 7 p.m. Monday and continues through 7 a.m. Tuesday for portions of northeast Georgia as far south as Jasper and Dahlonega, which “could see a mix of freezing rain, rain and snow at times.”
In the far northeast corner of the state, Rabun County is under a freezing rain advisory from 9 p.m. Monday through 9 a.m. Tuesday.
And that’s just round one of this week’s weather problems forecast for north Georgia.
A strong low pressure system moving out of the Gulf of Mexico will bring widespread rain, heavy at times, throughout the day Tuesday.
The National Weather Service said rainfall totals by the time the precipitation ends on Wednesday could total 1 to 2 inches from Atlanta northward and 2 to 3 inches south of Atlanta. Locally heavier amounts could lead to minor flooding, forecasters said.
A rain/snow mix is possible Tuesday night from the far northern suburbs northward, the Weather Service said.
The precipitation will likely change over to all snow around sunrise Wednesday at elevations above 1,500 feet, the Weather Service said, with snow accumulations up to an inch possible at higher elevations.
With a wintry mix forecast just north of Atlanta, most of the city will just see rain, and lots of it.
Minton said the chance of rain is 80 percent late Monday, 100 percent Tuesday and 60 percent Wednesday morning.
Afternoon highs will be in the mid-40s Monday and Tuesday, and low 40s Wednesday, with overnight lows in the mid-30s.
Thanksgiving Day will be sunny but cold, with highs in the mid-40s after morning lows around 23 degrees.
Black Friday shoppers will find sunny skies, lows in the upper 20s and highs in the low 50s.
Those sunny skies should hang around through Sunday for the return home from the long holiday weekend.
Low temperatures early Monday ranged from 25 in Dallas and 26 in Peachtree City to 29 in Alpharetta and at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport and 30 in Chamblee and Marietta.
Around daybreak Monday, the state Department of Transportation sent a maintenance crew to the intersection of Camp Creek Parkway and Fulton Industrial Boulevard, where black ice had developed on the roadway.
A Clayton County police officer was injured when his motorcycle skidded on the ice and wrecked.
Mark McKinnon, a spokesman for the DOT, reminded everyone that “as freezing temperatures move in this week, turn off sprinkler systems with automatic timers set to run overnight.”
McKinnon also cautioned motorists to be on the lookout for icy patches, especially early in the morning.
“Automatic sprinkler systems are often timed to operate at night and when spray from the sprinklers is blown onto the road or water drains onto the road, black ice is formed, creating a hazard for motorists,” he said.
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