When will it ever feel like September in Atlanta?
The average high for this time of year is 83 degrees, but North Georgia has been on a lengthy heat streak. According to the National Weather Service, Atlanta has broken the 90-degree mark for 12 straight days — every day this month except Sept. 1.
Every weekday this week has either broken, tied or been a degree shy of record highs, Channel 2 Action News reported. Friday has been no exception, hitting 97 degrees and toppling the previous record of 95 set in 1991.
Keeping with the trend, Atlanta transportation is suffering from several red-hot problems Friday afternoon, including a few literal fires.
I-20 in Cobb County is struggling after a tractor-trailer fire shut down all westbound lanes past Riverside Parkway, the Traffic Center reported. Only a left lane has reopened, and delays stretch back to the Perimeter.
A brush fire near the MARTA tracks stopped train service north of the Lindbergh Center station for nearly an hour earlier Friday, authorities said. The fire has been extinguished, allowing train service to resume.
MORE: Brush fire out; normal MARTA service resumes
A break in the heat was possible this weekend when a tropical system edged closer to the Gulf Coast, but that scenario is looking less likely, Channel 2 meteorologist Brian Monahan said.
The current projections from the National Hurricane Center show the system will become Tropical Storm Humberto before it moves along the eastern coast of Florida. Remember all that rain North Georgia got when Dorian took the same track?
“The track trend is to take this farther and farther to the east, and that's a dry and hot track for North Georgia there,” Monahan said. “There still could be shifts in this, but right now leaning toward that drier and hotter track that only brings us a slight cooldown Saturday and Sunday.”
That means temperatures in the 90s will stick around for a few more days. Due to the heat, a Code Orange smog alert is in effect for metro Atlanta this afternoon and evening.
Relief is coming, but it may just be a little further off, Monahan said.
“I want to be cautious when I say relief,” he said. “Are we going to be looking at fall temperatures moving in? No. But are we going to come out of the upper 90s? Yes, we are.”
The official start of fall is just 10 days away. Monahan said cooler weather is trying to break into North Georgia, but it can’t get past an area of high pressure situated over the Southeast. The high is acting like a blocker on a football field, he said, keeping seasonable temperatures from reaching the state.
Even after the sun goes down, temperatures will remain above average in the upper 80s at kickoff time for Friday night high school football, according to Channel 2.
“Our temperatures stay way above average over the next several days, and our rain chances aren’t all that high, either,” Monahan said.
Showers are 20% likely Friday but will mostly stick to the northeast Georgia mountains, although a few light showers could develop around metro Atlanta toward sunset, according to Channel 2. The rain chances increase to 30% Saturday and Sunday.
“The place to beat the heat this weekend, a little bit, that will be the mountains,” Monahan said.
Morning sun and afternoon storms are in the forecast for the northeast corner of the state, and temperatures in the mid- to upper 80s will be about 5 degrees cooler than in the city, he said. That’s still hot for this time of year.
Even if they won’t drop out of the 90s, high temperatures in metro Atlanta are coming down slightly for the weekend.
“We'll be in the low 90s Saturday and Sunday, and then the heat just may rebuild for a couple of days next week,” Monahan said.
» For a detailed forecast, visit The Atlanta Journal-Constitution weather page.
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