Metro Atlanta will finally get a break from the summer pattern of pop-up showers. With a 30% chance of rain, Thursday is predicted to be the hottest and driest day we’ve had all week, Channel 2 Action News meteorologist Brian Monahan said.
Right now, things are off to a comfortable start with temperatures in the low 70s through most of the metro. Come afternoon, those temperatures will climb quickly toward the high of 92 degrees.
“Today is going to be a pretty dry day,” he said. “We don’t expect much in the way of rain.”
That’s primarily due to the Category 2 storm Hurricane Laura, which is pounding the Louisiana and Texas border with heavy rain and fierce winds. The hurricane made landfall in the southwest Louisiana Gulf Coast as a Category 4 storm early Thursday.
The cool, wet air that is making up the storm in the Gulf Coast is leaving dry, warm air elsewhere, Monahan said.
“Basically what happens, is when the (cool) air goes up, the (warm) air goes down and sinks somewhere else,” he said. “We are in the sinking part of the air, which is the drier part of the weather pattern.”
Hurricane Laura will move up the midwestern United States as a weakened hurricane and will then head east toward New York as a tropical depression, Monahan said. That’s when Georgia will see a minor impact.
As the storm curves around toward the east coast, it will bring an increased chance of wet weather into the metro area. Come Saturday, the chance of rain will be 70%, according to Monahan.
Drivers in Sandy Springs will want to be careful on Northridge Road near Roswell Road, according to the WSB 24-hour Traffic Center.
Traffic lights are out in the area after a car crashed into a power pole, the Traffic Center reported. The incident is causing delays in the area.
» For a detailed forecast, visit The Atlanta Journal-Constitution weather page.
» For updated traffic information, listen to News 95.5 and AM 750 WSB and follow @ajcwsbtraffic on Twitter.
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