While the Gulf Coast is braced for Hurricane Ida, which made landfall on Sunday, the metro Atlanta area will have warm, dry weather for the second half of the weekend.
Sunday will be partly cloudy in Atlanta, with temperatures topping out about 90 degrees, according to Channel 2 Action News meteorologists. The area will stay dry throughout the day, with no chance of rainfall, Channel 2 meteorologist Jennifer Lopez said.
However, that’ll change starting on Monday as Georgia begins to see the impacts of Hurricane Ida moving through the Southeast, she said.
Ida made landfall just before noon Sunday on the coast of southeastern Louisiana, according to the National Hurricane Center. The “extremely dangerous” Category 4 storm is bringing winds at speeds greater than 150 miles per hour and “life-threatening” storm surge as it moves up from the mouth of the Mississippi River, the NHC reported.
1155 AM CDT: #Ida made landfall as an extremely dangerous category 4 hurricane near Port Fourchon, Louisiana, with maximum sustained winds of 150 mph and a minimum central pressure of 930 mb (27.46 inches) https://t.co/tW4KeFW0gB pic.twitter.com/iHdKMGk0tq
— National Hurricane Center (@NHC_Atlantic) August 29, 2021
The storm grew in strength early Sunday, becoming a dangerous Category 4 hurricane just hours before hitting the Louisiana coast, according to The Associated Press. As Ida moved through some of the warmest ocean water in the world in the northern Gulf of Mexico, its top winds grew by 45 mph in five hours. The system is set to arrive on the exact date Hurricane Katrina ravaged Louisiana and Mississippi 16 years earlier.
The majority of the Southeast will be soaked with rain as the remnants of the hurricane move through Mississippi and Tennessee on Monday and Tuesday. Rain chances will climb to 60% in Atlanta on Tuesday and Wednesday as Ida brushes past Georgia.
Credit: Channel 2 Action News
Credit: Channel 2 Action News
The Atlanta Braves will host the San Francisco Giants at Truist Park at 1:20 p.m., adding extra traffic volume around the junction of I-75 and I-285.
Elsewhere on the Perimeter, a major change to traffic patterns will be in full effect at the interchange between I-285 and Ga. 400, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution previously reported. Two new ramps from I-285 East onto Ga. 400′s northbound and southbound lanes will be open by 9 a.m. Sunday.
Further north on Ga. 400, there will be overnight ramp closures this weekend at Northridge Road for safety improvements. In Fulton and DeKalb counties, I-85 North will see overnight lane closures for restriping. Also on I-85, watch out for lane closures headed south at Cheshire Bridge Road for bridge rehabilitation work.
» For a detailed forecast, visit The Atlanta Journal-Constitution weather page.
» For updated traffic information, listen to News 95.5 and AM 750 WSB and follow @ajcwsbtraffic on Twitter.
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