A line of strong thunderstorms swept southward through metro Atlanta before daybreak Thursday, but weather radar showed drier conditions behind the line, which had moved well south of the area by daybreak.
"These are not severe storms, but they have a lot of lightning in them," Channel 2 Action News meteorologist Karen Minton said about the line, which moved into the northwest suburbs before 4 a.m. and continued southward through downtown into the southern suburbs by 5:30.
Heavily-traveled North Decatur Road near Scott Boulevard just north of Decatur was shut down throughout Thursday’s morning commute while crews worked to repair power lines downed by an apparent early morning lightning strike.
Charlie Armstrong lives was asleep in his nearby home when the lightning struck.
“Boom, it sounded like a rocket attack,” Armstrong told the AJC. “The next thing we knew all the dogs were barking in the neighborhood.”
Armstrong said the lightning apparently hit a transformer atop a utility pole, knocking out electricity to the neighborhood.
“It took the main power line right off the pole, and now it’s dangling about 15, 16 feet above North Decatur Road, and it’s still smoking,” Armstrong said.
At 9 a.m., the line of storms stretched east-to-west from near Columbus through Macon and into east Georgia.
Meanwhile, the National Weather Service warned that another round of thunderstorms are possible across the northern half of the state beginning Friday morning and continuing through Saturday evening.
"Some storms may be severe Friday afternoon through Saturday morning," the Weather Service said in a statement early Thursday.
Forecasters said those storms could dump as much as 2 inches of rain across parts of north Georgia before the rain ends late Saturday.
Rainfall totals from the storms that moved through early Thursday included .32 inch in Dunwoody, .36 inch in Marietta and .78 inch in Peachtree City.
Minton said temperatures will remain unseasonably warm Thursday and Friday before cooling down for the weekend.
Highs will be in the mid-70s Thursday and Friday, and in the low 60s Saturday and Sunday. By Monday, afternoon readings are only expected to reach the upper 50s.
Lows will around 60 degrees Thursday and Friday nights, then drop about 20 degrees over the weekend.
Staff photographer John Spink contributed to this article.
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