WEATHER-TRAFFIC: Rain batters west Georgia as water main break continues to slow DeKalb

Severe Weather Team 2 chief meteorologist Glenn Burns has your forecast.

Rain has moved into west Georgia, but Atlanta remains dry. However, a street in DeKalb County isn’t.

A water main break is still blocking Peeler Road between Chamblee Dunwoody and Shallowford roads, according to Dunwoody police. Two lanes of the Perimeter’s outer loop were blocked earlier Wednesday afternoon, but those lanes have reopened and delays are minimal.

Delays are increasing elsewhere, though, as the evening commute ramps up, according to the WSB 24-hour Traffic Center.

I-75 South is recovering from a crash that blocked two left lanes near Central Avenue, the Traffic Center reported. The crash has been moved to the right shoulder, but delays linger.

An overturned tanker truck in Forsyth County also has Ga. 369 blocked near Ga. 9, which is seeing residual delays, according to the Traffic Center.

With a mix of sunshine and clouds Wednesday, Atlanta was not expected to see much rain, according to Channel 2 Action News. However, that doesn’t include the western metro counties.

There is no severe weather in the forecast, but Coweta, Meriwether and Troup counties are enduring some heavy rain, Channel 2 reported. Another storm is moving through south Fulton County.

Channel 2 meteorologist Brian Monahan said he’s seeing a shift from the stormy weather pattern that brought heavy rain and toppled trees earlier this week. While shower and storm chances increase for the weekend, he said North Georgia is not likely to return to active severe weather for a while.

Instead, North Georgia is swapping the storms for 90-degree heat. At 5:30 p.m., the city is hovering at 85 degrees.

The average high for this time of year is 88, and Monahan said temperatures in town should get above that every day this week. North Georgia has seen 16 days of 90-degree heat so far this year, about halfway to the average of 35 days, according to Channel 2.

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“Temperatures are right around 90 degrees over the next several days,” he said. “The only difference for today and the rest of the week is the rain chance comes up a little bit to about 30 percent.”

The heat will really start to build through the end of the weekend and into next week, Monahan said. Some of the hottest air North Georgia has seen this year is expected to arrive in time for Independence Day.

“By Wednesday, by Thursday, that’s July 4, we have this strong high overhead,” he said. “That’s going to mean temperatures possibly pushing into the mid-90s.”

Clouds should stick around Thursday, according to Channel 2, making for an increased chance of some showers.

“It’s gonna be another hot day for you on Thursday with highs near 90, and into the afternoon, just a few more showers pop up,” Monahan said. “But the rain chance overall is still pretty low at about 30 percent.”

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

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