Evening commute traffic lighter than usual; isolated showers

ATLANTA FORECAST

Tuesday: High: 85

Tuesday night: Low: 72

Wednesday: High: 83

» For a detailed forecast, visit The Atlanta Journal-Constitution weather page.

The evening commute has gotten off to a pretty good start, and freeways are moving better than most days at 5 p.m., according to the WSB 24-hour Traffic Center.

There are some problem areas, but none of the major interstates are gridlocked at the moment.

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Two right lanes on I-75 South at Mt. Paran Road in Fulton County are blocked by a crash, causing moderate delays, the Traffic Center reported.

A left I-20 West lane is blocked by a crash near Hill Street, which is also causing delays, according to the Traffic Center.

Construction crews are taking advantage of the break in the rain. Roadwork blocks one right lane on I-675 South at Ga. 138 in Clayton County. In Buckhead, roadwork has shut down one northbound lane of Peachtree Road at Peachtree Memorial Drive.

Metro Atlanta is seeing overcast skies and has a 40 percent chance of scattered storms. There have been reports of a few spotty showers — and perhaps a rainbow or two — in north Fulton County this afternoon.

Competing weather systems will keep heavier rain to the west and spotty showers to the east, Channel 2 Action News meteorologist Karen Minton said.

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She said high pressure wedged in over the Appalachians is expected to keep northeast Georgia cooler with more cloud cover, while a front draped across the west portions of the state is fueling the rain. An additional 1 to 2 inches are expected to fall in the west Tuesday, adding to accumulations of 2 to 3 inches from overnight.

“That’s going to stir up the activity with some showers and some storms throughout the day,” Minton said. “We’ll see them off and on even in east Georgia, but not as many.”

Temperatures will still be above average. The expected high is 85 degrees in Atlanta, slightly higher than the average temperature of 81.

The next cold front makes it slow trek across the state Wednesday, setting up Thursday to be the coolest day this week with an expected high temperature of 81 degrees.

“(The front) doesn’t go barreling through,” Minton said. “It’s going to take a little bit of time for it to make some progress and push across the area, but eventually it will slip to our south. It is still going to keep our rain chances higher as we head into (Wednesday) and Thursday before it begins to taper off over the weekend.”

Rain chances jump to 70 percent Wednesday and 80 percent Thursday before dropping slightly to 60 percent Friday.