WEATHER-TRAFFIC: DeKalb’s rough day on the roads continues

It began with storm damage. Then it was an anthrax threat. And now it’s the regular evening commute.

DeKalb County drivers couldn’t catch a break Tuesday as several things stifled traffic throughout the day.

The roads surrounding the DeKalb courthouse are beginning to reopen following an anthrax letter threat, which led to parts of the building being evacuated, the sheriff’s office said. Several streets near the courthouse, which is off North McDonough Street, were closed as a result.

Just after 5:45 p.m., the sheriff’s office gave an all-clear for the courthouse, saying the letter did not contain anything harmful.

MORE: All-clear given at DeKalb courthouse after anthrax scare, evacuation

MARTA service at the Decatur station was briefly stopped due to the police activity, but both eastbound and westbound routes reopened after 4:15 p.m.

Meanwhile, crews are still working to clean up a tree that fell across Briarcliff Road south of Lavista Road when storms moved through metro Atlanta on Monday night. Drivers should take Houston Mill Road to get around the roadblock, according to the WSB 24-hour Traffic Center.

Those aren’t the only things affecting traffic in DeKalb. A crash on the Perimeter’s outer loop is blocking a left lane before I-20, according to the Traffic Center.

Wrecks have begun to slow down drivers on most metro Atlanta interstates, with the heaviest delays being on I-75 in Midtown. All southbound lanes are temporarily blocked to clear a rollover crash near Northside Drive, according to the Traffic Center.

Fewer than 400 customers across the state are still without power Tuesday afternoon, which is down from 4,000 affected customers at daybreak Tuesday. At one point overnight, more than 20,000 people were without power, according to Channel 2 Action News.

RELATED: Check your outage status

Credit: BOB ANDRES / BANDRES@AJC.COM

Credit: BOB ANDRES / BANDRES@AJC.COM

Channel 2 meteorologist Brian Monahan said North Georgia got a chance to catch its breath Tuesday.

A cold front moving through the state shut down the rain chances, Monahan said. It was mainly dry with a mix of clouds and sunshine during the afternoon.

Monahan said the trade-off is there won’t be any storms to keep the temperature down, which is why Atlanta reached the upper 80s during the afternoon. At 6 p.m., Atlanta is hovering at 86 degrees.

Most of North Georgia should stay dry again Wednesday and Thursday, according to Channel 2. Monahan said he’s keeping the rain chances around 10 to 20 percent each day with a couple of popup showers possible.

“We'll be in the low 90s and looking at temperatures near 90 degrees,” he said. “As we head toward the weekend, a chance of isolated storms returns.”

Along with the drier conditions, North Georgia will have some spectacular sunrises and sunsets to look forward to the next few days. Monahan said dust from the Sahara Desert in northern Africa is being swept thousands of miles across the Atlantic and is filtering through the air over Georgia.

“While a lot of it is concentrated down to our south, there’s actually enough in the atmosphere to reflect and bend the light a little bit more, and it gives that really pretty color to the sky,” he said. “We have that potential over the next couple of days.”

Monahan said you may have noticed a more vivid sunset Monday night as well. That was the result of the Sahara air layer combined with the stormy conditions, he said.

Looking ahead to next week, Monahan said the July 4 holiday could be a stormy one. Scattered showers and storms are in the forecast for now with highs close to 90 degrees, according to Channel 2. That could change in the days ahead.

» 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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