The past few days have brought relief to the heat and also to the drought in our region. With highs in the upper 90s last week, we have cooled off to the upper 80s here in North Georgia which is below average temperature for the month of July. Along with this heat relief, we are also catching up on rainfall that we missed out on in the month of June, which put parts of our region into a severe drought. This cooler and wetter weather is expected to hold on throughout this week, which will continue to remedy our drought. High temperatures are expected to stay in the upper 80s all the way until the beginning of next week with lows overnight floating in the low 70s. These temperatures are fairly consistent, with no noticeable trend up or down, which is due to a stationary upper-level trough that is expected to kick out of the southeast next week. At the surface this is creating a stationary front across our region, which is causing the afternoon storminess. Once the trough kicks out of our region next week, the front will move out, and the storms will go with it.
Currently, thunderstorms are flaring up all across our region. Some of which are trying to organize with other cells, but much of our region will see more of a scattered thunderstorm threat going into the overnight hours. Unfortunately, the threat for severe weather will be possible. A few brief severe thunderstorms with winds above 58 mph could be possible for everyone in our region today. Fortunately, these storms simply cannot sustain that severe thunderstorm status for very long, and will rain itself out shortly after. Small hail could also be present in the more intense thunderstorms, but will be brief as well. Among these severe hazards, flash flooding will be the biggest concern for us today. The individual thunderstorms do not last very long, but some areas could see multiple rounds of thunderstorms tonight. As of now, much of the rain threat is north of Atlanta, towards Rome, Calhoun and Dalton, flash flooding within the next couple hours could be possible due to the amount of thunderstorms moving through that area. Looking ahead a little further into the overnight hours, model guidance has the flood threat towards the southern part of our region, east of Atlanta. Isolated areas in North Georgia could see up to 3 inches of rain tonight, with areas east of Atlanta seeing nearly 4 inches of rain. Most of these storms will be out of our region by 3am tonight, but lingering showers will keep most of us damp to start the morning tomorrow. Do not worry though, the storms will be back for another round starting after noon tomorrow, and should be clearing out after midnight. Much of the same risks today apply to tomorrow as well.
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