Update:
The Cobb County School District announced at 4:50 p.m. that all evening activities were canceled.
And according to the Marietta government Facebook page, the city was in a moderate risk area. That means "long-lived, widespread and intense" storm. Look below for more information on the thunderstorm rating scale.
"Please take this very serious and listen out for sirens overnight, as well as monitoring local news," the city said.
Channel 2 meteorologist Brad Nitz tweeted at 5 p.m. that the latest models show the storms not hitting metro Atlanta until after 10 p.m.
Update:
Showers that are expected to hit metro Atlanta by around 4 p.m. have already developed near Birmingham, Alabama, Channel 2 meteorologist Brad Nitz said about 2:30 p.m.
Between now and 4 p.m, a warm front should bring “a period of showers and thunderstorms through 8 p.m.” that have the potential for damaging wind gusts, isolated strong tornadoes, storms and large hail, Nitz said.
A second wave of storms initially planned for 9 p.m. should hit metro Atlanta by around midnight, Channel 2 reported.
Original:
Not sure if y’all heard, but it’s going to rain today. Hard.
The first wave will start about 2 p.m. and turn into strong storms, possibly tornadoes in the western parts of Cobb County, according to Channel 2 meteorologist Brian Monahan.
He said there might also be the chance of hail 2 inches or more in diameter and wind gusts of 60 mph or stronger.
The second wave comes between 9 p.m and 10 p.m., with a lower chance of tornadoes, and will last until about 2 a.m., according to Monahan. Still be on the lookout for similar hail and gusts.
READ | Here are the 7 snowiest days in the history of Cobb County
UPDATES | You can get the latest weather information from Channel 2 and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution here.
The Cobb government posted to its Facebook about 10:30 a.m. that the county was in an "enhanced" risk area from 3 p.m to midnight.
According to the National Weather Service, that means that the county is expected to experience a 3 out of 5 severe weather risk, with 1 being thunderstorms and 5 being bad news storms. And, if it makes more sense this way, 1 is mint green, 3 is orange and 5 is an aggressive magenta.
Credit: National Weather Serivce
Credit: National Weather Serivce
Cobb also said on Facebook that its emergency staff will continue to monitor the storms. They suggested residents sign up for its Swift911 alert system online.
The Smyrna fire department was also warning folks on Facebook about the storms.
“Be prepared to take action if a warning is issued for your area today!” the department warned.
Like Cobb County News Now on Facebook | Follow us on Twitter
About the Author
