WEATHER-TRAFFIC UPDATE: Construction, crashes contribute to cluttered roads

ATLANTA FORECAST 

Tuesday: High: 87

Tuesday night: Low: 72

Wednesday: High: 88

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

Various construction projects and crashes are beginning to clutter the evening commute as it begins to ramp up, according to the WSB 24-hour Traffic Center.

There are already several trouble spots to avoid.

A car fire in Fulton County has two lanes of I-285 shut down, causing delays, according to the Traffic Center.

Those traveling on I-85 South in Jackson County are dealing with a major headache. Near the Winder Highway exit, all southbound lanes are blocked by a rollover crash, and traffic is being diverted at Ga. 129, the Traffic Center reported.

Construction continues on Peachtree Road between Deering Road and 25th Street, shutting down some northbound lanes at times. Delays should pick up when the evening commute hits full steam.

Also tonight, the Atlanta Dream take on the Washington Mystics in Game 5 of the WNBA conference finals at 8 p.m. at Georgia Tech’s McCamish Pavilion. Traffic nearby could increase near tipoff.

RELATED: WNBA semifinal returns to Atlanta after Mystics rout Dream in Game 4

Despite a strengthening tropical storm churning toward the Gulf Coast, North Georgia is expected to stay hot and mostly dry over the next several days.

An area of high pressure is keeping the tropical moisture at bay, according to Channel 2 Action News meteorologist Brian Monahan. When Tropical Storm Gordon makes landfall later Tuesday, Monahan said it likely won’t have much effect on Georgia weather.

“Some of these clouds are actually spilling northward across North Georgia, but all the rain, all the storms, all the rough weather with this system is going to stay well to our south,” he said.

The storm is tracking westward and away from the state. It could reach hurricane strength before it reaches southeast Louisiana and Mississippi, according to Channel 2. Monahan said it likely won’t curve back toward Georgia, unlike Tropical Storm Irma this time last year.

That means the heat and pattern of limited rain will carry over from the holiday weekend and extend through the work week, he said.

Temperatures have reached the mid-80s on this cloudy, dry afternoon, and the predicted high is 87 degrees.

“Temperatures feeling more like midsummer than late summer this afternoon across North Georgia,” Monahan said. “We're headed for the upper 80s to around 90 degrees, and not a whole lot of rain today, just an isolated storm chance will take us on through the afternoon.”

There is a 20 percent chance of showers developing in the late afternoon, “but they are going to be few and far between,” he said.

Most metro Atlanta neighborhoods should stay dry.

The drier weather should allow the Georgia Department of Transportation to work on the reconstructed Mount Vernon Highway bridge as scheduled this week.

GDOT will temporarily close multiple lanes on Ga. 400 South overnight Tuesday to Friday, according to a news release. Closures will be Tuesday and Wednesday from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m., and Wednesday through Friday from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. Two right lanes and two left lanes will close alternately on Ga. 400 southbound at Mount Vernon Highway.

But no rain means no relief for allergy sufferers. The weed pollen season is here and ragweed, pigweed and dog fennel pollen counts were in the moderate range Tuesday morning, according to Channel 2.