WEATHER-TRAFFIC: Muggy, mild start before cooler afternoon

Severe Weather Team 2 Meteorologist Eboni Deon has your forecast

Mild temperatures Wednesday morning are somewhat deceptive, Channel 2 Action News meteorologist Eboni Deon said.

Numbers in the upper 60s and low 70s across North Georgia will not be an indication of afternoon heat. In fact, highs this afternoon will be about 10 degrees below average, Deon said.

“We’ve had a blanket of clouds in place overnight that’s kept temperatures up a bit,” she said. “We're not going to make it out of the 70s for afternoon highs, and we're going to be tracking more rain.”

The projected high for metro Atlanta is 76 degrees.

Showers and some storms are 40% likely later Wednesday, according to Channel 2. Deon said an area of low pressure spinning over Texas is sending lots of tropical moisture this way, helping to fuel rain activity.

The morning will start out muggy but mostly dry, she said.

James Michael Brown strolls across a foggy and misty Atlanta skyline on Martin Luther King Jr. Drive.

Credit: JOHN SPINK / JSPINK@AJC.COM

icon to expand image

Credit: JOHN SPINK / JSPINK@AJC.COM

“A late day storm might certainly ruin those later day plans, so the earlier you can get out, the better,” she said.

Deon is not expecting the region to get many storms, but a few have the possibility to turn severe. An area from metro Atlanta west into Alabama is under a low-level threat of severe weather Wednesday.

Damaging wind, small hail, lightning and heavy rainfall are all possibilities, according to Channel 2.

“A lot of the action will be back across Alabama, but we too are going to see a good deal of some scattered rain showers,” Deon said. “Not everyone will get wet all at the same time.”

The western counties will have a better opportunity for thunderstorms late Wednesday and early Thursday morning, while rain will remain scattered for the rest of North Georgia, she said. Thursday’s rain chance increases to 60%.

“Temperatures will start to warm back up,” Deon said. “I don’t think we are going to make it up into the mid- to upper 80s, but we will certainly see a warming trend as we get through the latter part of the work week.”

By Friday, Atlanta could see afternoon highs in the low 80s. A cold front is also expected to move through Friday, bringing some early showers.

Behind the front, Deon said dry air and sunshine returns for the weekend.

ajc.com

icon to expand image

Despite some early crashes, the interstates are in good shape Wednesday morning, according to the WSB 24-hour Traffic Center.

An earlier incident that blocked all lanes of the I-285 inner loop in Cobb County has cleared, and there are no longer any delays, the Traffic Center reported.

According to the Traffic Center, volume remains light on all metro Atlanta interstates.