It has not felt like summer in the North Georgia the past couple of days, but summer is coming nonetheless.
Saturday marks the official start to the season with the summer solstice. Before it arrives, North Georgia is expected to warm up.
Low pressure has been dominating the weather, bringing daily isolated showers and thunderstorms and cooler air, according to Channel 2 Action News. The low will start to move away later Thursday, allowing temperatures and humidity to rise.
“It loses its grip on North Georgia,” Channel 2 meteorologist Brian Monahan said. “In that transition before we hit summertime kind of weather, it will be a little bit stormy the next couple of days across North Georgia.”
Thursday’s rain chance is just 30%, and he said most of the shower and thunderstorm activity will be confined to the northeast Georgia mountains.
Despite a few showers near Lake Oconee, most of the region is starting Thursday dry and partly cloudy. Rain should hold off for most of the day, Monahan said.
“The ride home from work should be pretty quiet around metro Atlanta, but as you head up into the mountains, we'll have that isolated shower or storm chance,” he said. “Whatever storms develop should start to fade away as we move toward sunset.”
After several days in the 70s, metro Atlanta is expected to reach the 80s Thursday. The projected high is 81 degrees, which is still several degrees below average, according to Channel 2.
“We'll get another day or so of cooler temperatures across North Georgia before we really start to warm things up into the weekend,” Monahan said.
Atlanta is likely to hit 90 degrees for the first time this year on Sunday, according to Channel 2. The city typically reaches that mark on May 31.
“So we’re about three weeks late already,” Monahan said. “It is the latest we’ve gone into the year without 90s since 2003.”
While most interstates are moving well Thursday, there are lingering delays in DeKalb County after a crash shut down I-20 for several hours.
A tractor-trailer wrecked into the median at Panola Road just before 4:30 a.m., spilling its contents into the westbound lanes. Travel was open in both directions as of 7:30 a.m., according to the WSB 24-hour Traffic Center.
Delays remain through the area, according to the Traffic Center. Drivers can take Browns Mill Road or Covington Highway to get around the backups.
» 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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