A series of storms moving through North Georgia is causing trouble for metro Atlanta drivers during Tuesday’s evening commute.
There's no severe weather warnings in Atlanta, but traffic is slow nearly everywhere because of the wet conditions, the WSB 24-hour Traffic Center reported.
A multicar crash on I-85 South near Ga. 400 has been cleared to the left, but delays around Midtown are heavy as a result, the Traffic Center reported.
The silver lining is there aren’t too many other wrecks causing delays, so the weather is the main cause of backups on the Downtown Connector, I-75 in Cobb County and the Perimeter — the entire Perimeter. The increased volume of vehicles on the roads during the evening commute isn’t helping matters.
Wrecks that were slowing I-20 in Cobb and DeKalb counties earlier Tuesday afternoon have been cleared, and the interstate has mostly recovered, according to the Traffic Center.
The bulk of the rain has been north of metro Atlanta, prompting nearby Bartow, Floyd and Polk counties to remain under a flash flood warning until 6:45 p.m., according to the National Weather Service. Dawson and Lumpkin counties are under a flash flood warning until 8:45 p.m.
Atlanta does still have a 60 percent chance of rain, so there’s an omnipresent possibility of on-and-off downpours, Channel 2 Action News meteorologist Brian Monahan said.
This comes after thunderstorms with lightning and strong winds moved across Butts, Newton and surrounding counties at 10 a.m., prompting the Weather Service to issue severe thunderstorm warnings. Those warnings expired by 10:45 a.m.
Quarter-sized hail was reported in Flovilla in Butts County, Monahan said. In Newton County, there were reports of trees and power lines down.
“We've got this upper-level area of low pressure just kind of pinwheeling back to our west, and that's what’s sending these waves of rain on toward North Georgia,” Monahan said.
Allergy sufferers got some relief. The pollen count was down by more than half Tuesday. Levels are still considered high at 711 particles per cubic meter of air.
Despite the wet weather, Tuesday is still warm. Atlanta reached 75 degrees just before 3 p.m., but it has since cooled to 70.
Drier air will start to build into the mountains later Tuesday to give North Georgia a cooler start Wednesday, according to Channel 2. Temperatures should start in the 50s Wednesday morning before climbing to a projected high of 78 in the afternoon.
Wednesday should be beautiful with plenty of sunshine, Monahan said.
He expects to be tracking more waves of rain for the weekend. Friday and Saturday both have a 30 percent chance of some showers, and rain is also likely Sunday, according to the latest forecast.
» For a detailed forecast, visit The Atlanta Journal-Constitution weather page.
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