Most of Georgia is expected to dodge the worst of Hurricane Milton, but the coast is under a tropical storm watch as Milton barrels toward Florida.
The Category 4 storm is churning just north of the Yucatán Peninsula on Tuesday morning, according to the National Hurricane Center. It is expected to continue eastward and reach land at some point late Wednesday or early Thursday and is forecast to remain a hurricane as it crosses the Florida Peninsula into the Atlantic.
Georgia cities like Brunswick, Savannah and Valdosta — still grappling with power outages and heavy damage from Helene — could again be whipped by tropical storm-force winds and 2 to 6 inches of rain starting late Wednesday, with higher totals possible, the NHC predicts.
On Florida’s west coast, “extremely dangerous” conditions are expected, the NHC warns.
Forecast path for Milton
“This is an extremely life-threatening situation and residents in those areas should follow advice given by local officials and evacuate immediately if told to do so,” the NHC said in an advisory. “Preparations to protect life and property in the warning areas should be complete by tonight (Tuesday).”
Hurricane warnings are in effect along most of the coast, where devastating, life-threatening winds and floods are expected.
In a Sunday post on X, the Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency welcomed Floridians to seek refuge in Georgia, but urged evacuees to head further north to Atlanta, Columbus, Macon and Albany as resources are already spread thin in South Georgia after Hurricane Helene.
The Atlanta Motor Speedway will open its campgrounds to evacuees free of charge, the organization announced. In collaboration with Henry County emergency management, the speedway will provide dry camping in its Legends Premium Campground for RVs and Legends Tent Campground for pop-up campers and tents. Evacuees staying in these campgrounds will also have complimentary access to showers while staying at the speedway.
A limited number of camping spaces with water, power, and sewer hookups will also be available for $35 per night.
As of Tuesday morning, little to no impacts are expected in north and central Georgia, according to the National Weather Service’s Peachtree City office. Some isolated showers — less then a half-inch of rain — could fall in the southeastern parts of central Georgia on Thursday morning along with a 20-30 mph breeze.
Aside from those showers, no rain is expected through the weekend. Temperatures will also feel more like fall across the Atlanta metro area, according to the NWS. Highs will stay in the mid to upper 70s and lows will dip into the upper 50s. But the 80-degree temps will be back by Sunday.
» For a detailed forecast, visit www.ajc.com/weather.
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