THURSDAY’S WEATHER-TRAFFIC: Showers ahead of scattered afternoon storms

With showers in the morning and scattered storms in the afternoon forecast, Thursday will be wet at times.

Channel 2 Action News meteorologist Brian Monahan said most of North Georgia will need a rain jacket and an umbrella at some point through the day. Thursday won’t be a total washout, however.

“I think there are going to be some dry hours at times through today,” he said.

Wet pavement on Thursday morning is a holdover from Wednesday’s storms, and more showers are falling on the Southside and east of Atlanta. Monahan said all in metro Atlanta should leave a little extra time to get to work to account for the slick conditions on the roads.

Thursday is also off to a warm start. Temperatures are in the 60s and 70s before sunrise and are expected to rise to the low 80s by the afternoon. Atlanta’s projected high is 83 degrees, according to Channel 2.

After entering a lull in the rain late morning, Monahan said scattered storms will develop mid- to late afternoon.

“These will settle down and then as we head through the overnight hours, a chance for more rain early tomorrow morning,” he said.

It will likely be driest to the north and east Friday.

“It will be the Southside tomorrow that should see most of our rain, and that will continue through the afternoon,” Monahan said. “North of I-20, not as much rain on Friday.”

The rain chance drops from 60% Thursday to 40% Friday. Saturday should see even more dry hours with a rain chance of just 30%, according to Channel 2.

There could be air quality concerns this weekend as a massive plume of dust from the Sahara Desert moves over North Georgia. It is believed to be the most significant dust outbreak to make its way across the Atlantic Ocean in the past 50 years, Monahan said.

“We’re going to shut the rain chances down, but we’re going to be dealing with some of that dust,” he said.

Allergy and asthma sufferers could find it difficult to be outside in the early morning and early evening. But Monahan said the dust should make for some spectacular sunrises and sunsets.

Multiple crashes have already been reported on wet roads Thursday morning. Most have cleared quickly and have not created major delays, according to the WSB 24-hour Traffic Center.

In Henry County, authorities are working to get a container truck out of the mud at the I-75 South ramp to I-675. The incident is not impacting traffic on either interstate, the Traffic Center reported.

» 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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