With several waves of heavy rain forecast for the next few days, the National Weather Service has issued a flood watch in most of North Georgia, including parts of Atlanta.
The flood watch begins at 1 p.m. Tuesday and will remain in effect through Thursday morning, according to the NWS. Cherokee, Cobb, Hall and Fulton counties are included in the watch, which stretches south from the state’s northwest corner.
A flood watch does not mean flooding will occur, only that conditions are favorable. A flood advisory means that flooding is likely but is not expected to be enough to issue a warning, and a flood or flash flood warning is issued when flooding is imminent or already happening.
For most of Tuesday, the weather radar is showing only spotty showers.
“Heavier rain will move in tonight and through tomorrow (Wednesday),” Channel 2 Action News meteorologist Brian Monahan said. “Tomorrow is going to be really wet.”
There is also a Level 1 of 5 risk for severe weather in far west Georgia on Wednesday and into Thursday morning.
“As a warm front lifts across the area, the air is going to get a little unstable,” Monahan said. “It’s that time of year when we have to watch for the possibility of any strong thunderstorms.”
High temperatures will climb into the mid 60s on Wednesday and Thursday as opposed to the low 50s on Tuesday, and “depending on how much instability is available, we could see a few strong to severe thunderstorms,” the NWS warns.
The main concern for the western Georgia storms will be damaging winds coupled with widespread rain that is blanketing the state. While Atlanta will get between 1 and 2 inches of rain, most of North Georgia will see 3 to 5 inches by Thursday. Some isolated areas could get as much as 7 inches.
The heavy rain is likely to cause excessive runoff that could result in creeks, streams and rivers rising beyond their banks.
For context, Atlanta received more than 11 inches of rainfall during a 48-hour period in September as Hurricane Helene rolled through the Southeast. The previous rainfall record for a two-day period was set in 1886 at just under 9.6 inches, Georgia’s state climatologist said at the time.
The unprecedented rainfall sent Peachtree Creek, already notorious for regular flooding, to its highest level ever recorded at 23.75 feet, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
With this round of storms, things should start to dry out by Thursday afternoon, Monahan said.
Then, another round of rain is expected to arrive Sunday, according to the Weather Service. That system is expected to “exit the forecast area by Monday, with dry conditions slated to kick off the next work week,” the NWS reports.
Temperatures will also take a dip, with projected lows falling into the 30s Sunday night.
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