Wet Week Ahead!

After a hot and dry weekend with temperatures peaking 100 degrees in our area, we are finally starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Rainfall chances will be increasing for North Georgia throughout this week not only helping the drought we are in but also helping cool down those triple digit high temperatures we have been experiencing. By Friday, our region will have highs in the upper 80s that will persist through the weekend.

Currently, North Georgia is experiencing a broken line of thunderstorms moving through North Georgia from the west. These storms may contain gusty winds up 40 miles per hour along with heavy, but brief downpours. These storms will continue to move eastward and diminish. But a stray shower or pop-up thunderstorm for most of the region including Athens in the throughout the afternoon cannot be ruled late this afternoon. Extreme Northwest Georgia might see another round of thunderstorms by the end of the day as well, but just like the rest of them they will be brief. Overnight tonight is looking to be mostly clear skies with lows dropping into the low 70s. Wednesday will be similar to today, pop-up showers and thunderstorms across most of the region with temperatures hovering in the mid and lower 90s for our region. Based on model guidance, a broken line of thunderstorms will be moving through our region towards the evening time, but will diminish by midnight. Because of this, the overnight hours might be rainy in the beginning, but will likely clear out as we go into Thursday morning with lows near 70 for our region. These thunderstorms will most likely not be severe, but some of these storms could be strong bringing severe wind gusts (58 mph or more).

Thursday and Friday, will likely be our heaviest rainfall days for our region. Our region will see more cloud cover and more rain, which will decrease those temperatures into the lower 90s on Thursday with the upper 80s expected on Friday. During the month of July, the average high temperature is 92 degrees for our region, so below average temperatures are on the way and expected to stay until next week. Most of the rain is forecasted to start in the afternoon and diminish into your overnight hours. Chances of rainfall are not falling off as you go into the weekend either. The models are not agreeing on possible rainfall totals by the weekend, but the general idea is that our region will see at least an inch of rain total, with isolated areas seeing 2 or more inches of rain. With this in mind, it is definitely safe to say we have drought relief on the way along with cooler conditions expected!