WEATHER-TRAFFIC UPDATE: Showers, I-75 crash could disrupt evening commute

ATLANTA FORECAST 

Monday: High: 87

Monday night: Low: 72

Tuesday: High: 86

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

Scattered showers and heavy downpours — and maybe even some lightning — could disrupt your evening commute, Channel 2 Action News reported.

Light rain is popping up all over metro Atlanta, but traffic had mostly been trouble-free Monday until an overturned vehicle clogged up I-75 southbound at Windy Hill Road. Only one lane is getting past the crash.

Unfortunately for drivers, the new express lanes can't help. Monday was the first true tests for the Northwest Corridor Express Lanes in Cobb and Cherokee counties on I-75 and I-575.

But since the lanes are reversible — they carried traffic into Atlanta this morning and are carrying commuters out of town this afternoon — they can’t aid those going southbound during the evening commute.

RELATED: Atlanta traffic: How to use those new express lanes

Monday’s rain chance is 60 percent, with much of that activity developing north of I-20, according to the latest forecast.

“(The cold front) is going to be making its way in here as we go through the afternoon, stalling out, giving us a chance for scattered showers and storms,” Channel 2 meteorologist Karen Minton said. “Heavy rain, a lot of lightning with some of these individual showers and storms.”

Temps were expected to climb into the upper 80s Monday. It’s currently 87 degrees.

The rain should help parts of metro Atlanta to feel a little cooler, she said.

“Where we don’t see as much activity on the Southside, that’s where you're going to find temperatures staying a little hotter for a while,” Minton said.

Rain chances will drop through the week as Hurricane Florence bears down on the East Coast, according to Channel 2 meteorologist Brian Monahan. The National Hurricane Center named Florence a Category 4 storm Monday afternoon. It's expected to make landfall later this week.

“Now you might be wondering: That’s not that far away from us. How do we not feel any direct impacts from that system?” Monahan said. “On the western side of these systems, typically what you see is sinking air.”

He said there is “very dry air” in North Georgia on the backside of Florence, west of where the storm could make landfall in the Carolinas.

“In terms of impact, here might we see some clouds, sure, on this path,” Monahan said. “Will we see some breezy weather? Absolutely. Rain? Probably not a whole lot here in North Georgia.”

The Northwest Corridor Express Lanes got their first stress test Monday morning. JOHN SPINK / JSPINK@AJC.COM

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