This should be a stellar Memorial Day weekend, with plenty of sunshine, lots of baseball, jazz in the park and gasoline cheaper than anyone expected it to be heading into the summer vacation season.
Some of the warmest temperatures so far this year are predicted, with highs climbing into the low 90s on Saturday for the first time since last September.
"It looks like a beautiful weekend with highs in the upper 80s to low 90s" with "only a 10 percent chance of a shower all three days," said Glenn Burns, chief meteorologist for Channel 2 Action News. Lows will be in the low 70s.
Motorists headed to events around town or headed out of town will be happy to know that the state Department of Transportation has suspended construction-related lane closures statewide, beginning at noon on Friday and continuing through 5 a.m. Tuesday.
Still, Doug Turnbull in the AM750 and 95.5FM News/Talk WSB Traffic Center says to expect “plenty of extra volume” on all interstates Friday afternoon.
Those motorists will find gasoline cheaper than in recent weeks and months.
Metro Atlanta's average price for a gallon of regular unleaded Friday evening was $3.44 a gallon, according to atlantagasprices.com. That's down 5 cents from a week ago, 26 cents lower than one month ago and 34 cents cheaper than a year ago.
Earlier this spring, there were predictions that prices would climb to well over $4 a gallon by the summer months.
Weekend events around metro Atlanta include the Atlanta Jazz Festival Saturday through Monday at Piedmont Park and the Atlanta Caribbean Festival, which will be held Saturday along the Auburn Avenue corridor.
The Atlanta Braves play the Washington Nationals at 7:35 p.m. Friday, 4:05 p.m. Saturday, 8:05 p.m. Sunday and 1:10 p.m. Monday, while the Gwinnett Braves take on Rochester Friday and Saturday nights and Sunday afternoon and Lehigh Valley on Monday night.
In Cobb County, the annual Memorial Day ceremonies at the Marietta National Cemetery begin at noon Monday. On Saturday, Boy Scouts, Cub Scouts, Girl Scouts and Brownies will place American flags on each of the more than 10,000 graves in the 140-year-old cemetery.
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