A potentially dangerous weekend of severe weather arrived on Saturday night in Georgia, with storms also expected to hit parts of metro Atlanta.
Georgia’s western border and parts of the metro’s west side are under a Level 4 of 5 risk for severe weather Saturday and Sunday, the National Weather Service warns. A large portion of the rest of the state is under a Level 3 risk. The locations under a Level 4 threat carry a 15% chance of tornado formation within 25 miles of any given point. Areas under a Level 3 threat have a 10% chance.
As forecasters predicted, around 8 p.m. northwest Georgia started experiencing the stormy weather.
Here’s the latest on the severe weather affecting the state.
Rain is beginning to reach the city of Atlanta.
West Cobb County and Douglas County were seeing rain and wind increase since 11 p.m.
Light rain was being reported on the west side of Atlanta.
The increased activity could prompt a tornado warning from the National Weather Service.
Several counties west of Atlanta are under a severe thunderstorm warning until midnight, the Weather Service announced at 10:55 p.m.
Areas under the warning include Paulding, Haralson, Carroll, northwest Cobb, Douglas, southeastern Floyd, northern Heard, northwestern Coweta, southwestern Fulton, southeastern Gordon and Bartow counties.
At 10:54 p.m., severe thunderstorms moving northeast at 70 mph were located along a line extending from Esom Hill in Polk County to Corinth in Coweta.
Drivers on Interstate 20 west will run into a wall of rain near the Georgia-Alabama line, radar indicates.
Heavy rain and wind were reported in Cleburne County and Calhoun County, Ala., as severe weather moves east toward Atlanta.
Carrollton, above 50 miles west of Atlanta, was beginning to see significant rainfall, radar shows.
Flashes of lightning were rampant as of 11 p.m.
Wind speeds in metro Atlanta have been gusting in excess of 30 mph for the last four hours.
Power outages across Georgia remained few around 10:30 p.m., but they were slowly rising.
Georgia Power reported nearly 4,000 customers without power, mostly in Fulton, Cobb and Bartow counties.
Georgia EMC, which represents the cooperatives that primarily serve rural parts of the state, reported just over 7,000 customers without power. Areas most impacted included North Georgia and metro Atlanta.
Tornadoes have killed at least 26 people across several states this weekend as a massive storm system also unleashed winds that triggered deadly dust storms and fanned more than 100 wildfires.
Extreme weather conditions were forecast to affect an area home to more than 100 million people. Winds gusting up to 80 mph were predicted from the Canadian border to Texas, threatening blizzard conditions in colder northern areas and wildfire risk in warmer, drier places to the south.
The National Weather Service issued blizzard warnings for parts of far western Minnesota and far eastern South Dakota starting early Saturday.
Evacuations were ordered in some Oklahoma communities as more than 130 fires were reported across the state. Nearly 300 homes were damaged or destroyed. The State Patrol said winds were so strong that they toppled several tractor-trailers.
Shortly after 9 p.m., storms were moving through Paulding County, northwest of Atlanta.
It started with light rain and the winds began to increase. There were also a few rumbles of thunder.
"Just because we are in a tornado watch, don't take it for granted that you would receive a tornado warning," Paulding EMA Director Stephen Dooley said in a Facebook video.
The conditions mean a tornado is possible even if the "warning" has yet to be issued, he explained.
Dooley advised having electronic devices charged and suggested residents follow trusted media sources and local social media.
"If you start hearing a lot of a noise like thunder activity, you want to go ahead, even without having to get that warning, to your safe spaces at your house where you're at, that lowest level and then as interior as possible where you don't have any windows surrounding you."
Savannah is celebrating St. Patrick's weekend, with thousands of visitors in the coastal Georgia city.
Big crowds are expected downtown through Monday night.
So far, the festivities have not been impacted by rainy weather.
That will change Sunday afternoon.
AccuWeather has "possibly damaging thunderstorms" in the forecast, with the "possibility of an isolated tornado."
Sunday's high temperature will be 76 degrees. On Monday, it will be 67.
The storms headed to the Atlanta metro area are filled with lightning, radar indicates.
At 9:28 p.m., 575 strikes were recorded in the previous 15 minutes on radar outside Birmingham.
The National Weather Service in Atlanta temporarily has taken over for the National Weather Service office in Birmingham.
A tornado on the ground Saturday night in Calera, Ala., site of the Birmingham weather service office, forced staffers into their shelter, the Weather Channel reported.
The weather service office in Birmingham had just issued a tornado warning for the area.
A local Walmart was damaged during the tornado, reports indicate.
A tornado warning has been issued for north central Gilmer County and northwestern Fannin County, both in far North Georgia, according to the National Weather Service.
The warning is in effect until 9:30 p.m.
At 8:57 p.m., a severe thunderstorm capable of producing a tornado was located near Cherry Log, or about seven miles west of Blue Ridge, the Weather Service said. It was moving northeast at 55 mph.