Southside slow as temps vary wildly across metro Atlanta

ATLANTA FORECAST

Friday: High: 67

Friday night: Low: 50

Saturday: High: 59

» For a detailed forecast, visit The Atlanta Journal-Constitution weather page.

Temperatures vary wildly across metro Atlanta due to a front setting up south of I-20, creating a 20-plus-degree difference north and south of the interstate, Channel 2 Action News reported.

Despite being only 120 miles apart, Gainesville is stuck at 50 degrees while LaGrange has been hovering in the low 80s all afternoon. Atlanta, while peaking at 67 earlier today, has cooled to 54 degrees by 5:30 p.m.

Traveling from a hot to cold area may be a challenge with heavy traffic plaguing most interstates, according to the WSB 24-hour Traffic Center.

A wreck that shut down I-285 East in Clayton County for more than an hour has been cleared, but heavy delays remain on the Southside, the Traffic Center reported. Delays span back to Cascade Road in Fulton County.

MORE: 2 taken to hospital after crash shut down I-285 in Clayton County

In DeKalb County, two right lanes of I-85 South at Pleasantdale Road are blocked by a crash, according to the Traffic Center.

In Roswell, Old Holcomb Bridge Road at Holcomb Bridge Road is back open after an apartment fire at a complex off Old Holcomb Bridge Way.

All the rain we’ve gotten over the past week means the air is very soupy. The humidity is more than 80 percent.

Metro Atlanta is getting a bit of a break from the downpours at least. Most of the heavy rain should be relegated to the North Georgia mountains Friday, according to Channel 2.

“We've got a backdoor front coming in here and that’s going to keep everybody kind of soupy, with the next rain wave coming through in the afternoon,” Channel 2 meteorologist Karen Minton said. “That could produce another inch or more of rain in a few spots, making for some tricky travel across far North Georgia.”

A flood watch continues for the far northern counties, where another inch or more of rain is possible. The watch is scheduled to expire at 7 p.m. Friday.

With already saturated soils, “this amount of rainfall will produce significant runoff and flooding of creeks and rivers,” the National Weather Service said.

Several rivers across North Georgia have already reached minor flood stage. Flood warnings remain in effect for Big Creek near Alpharetta, Etowah River in Cherokee County and Sweetwater Creek affecting Cobb and Douglas counties.

There is a light at the end of the soggy tunnel, Channel 2 meteorologist Brian Monahan said.

“We are finally going to break out of this very wet weather pattern, and we're going to do it in kind of a stormy way,” he said.

Ahead of another cold front, the last line of showers and some storms is expected to move through northwest Georgia overnight Saturday and rumble into metro Atlanta before sunrise Sunday morning.

“As this front comes through, there’s going to be a risk, a relatively small risk, in northwest Georgia for an isolated strong to severe storm Saturday night into Sunday morning,” Monahan said. “Wind gusts 40 to 60 mph, and cannot rule out an isolated, brief tornado.”

You just have to hold on through the weekend. There is lots of sunshine in the forecast for Monday and Tuesday with afternoon highs in the 60s, according to Channel 2.