Looks like metro Atlanta and a good bit of North Georgia will be wringing out on New Year’s Eve.
This week’s steady precipitation brought the threat of flooding to the soaked metro, with flash flood warnings blanketing much of the area. And even though metro flash flood warnings expired before rush hour Wednesday, a flood watch that had been in place since Monday was extended through Friday evening.
Meanwhile, in North Georgia, Gov. Nathan Deal extended the state of emergency issued last week for Fannin, Gilmer and Pickens counties to Jan. 7. He also expanded the emergency declaration to include Gordon, Macon, Towns, Troup and Wilkes counties.
As of Wednesday, 2015 was the third-rainiest year on record for metro Atlanta with 68.08 inches, according to National Weather Service forecasters. (The rainiest was 71.45 inches in 1948.) And by late afternoon Wednesday, this month was the second-rainiest December on record in metro Atlanta, at 12.21 inches. The most rain in a December for the area, 12.94 inches, occurred in 1919.
The heavy rain caused problems during Wednesday morning’s commute, according to the WSB 24-hour Traffic Center. There was as much as 2 feet of standing water on the ramp from I-75 northbound to Jonesboro Road, with flooding also reportedly blocking the left lane of I-20 westbound at Turner Hill Road.
Rain and thunderstorms also slowed air travel at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, where the Federal Aviation Administration reported arrival delays averaging about an hour at 8:30 a.m. By 11 a.m., the heavy rain and storms had moved away from the airport, and flight schedules had returned to normal and remained so for most of the day.
In Oconee County, massive rainfall had threatened to cause a dam breach near a cluster of homes in a subdivision off Ga. 316. Tuesday night, however, workers were able to siphon off enough water from a lake near Briar Point Court in the subdivision to prevent the dam from failing. According to the Oconee County Sheriff’s Department, workers reinforced the dam as rain continued Wednesday.
Channel 2 meteorologist Katie Walls said the chance of rain diminishes to 30 percent on Thursday, tapering off early in the day. But it might not be dry enough for some New Year’s Eve celebrations to go on as initially planned. The popular Polar Bear Plunge at Lake Lanier and the Lawrenceville RINGS celebration have been rained out.
After all this rain, it will finally begin to feel a bit like winter going into the weekend, will little chance of freezing in the metro area. New Year’s Day will be partly cloudy and cooler, with only a 10 percent chance of a scattered shower. Temperatures will start in the low 40s, and only reach the low 50s during the afternoon.
The weekend should be mostly sunny, with highs in the low 50s and lows in the mid-30s.
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