ATLANTA — Friday will be the hottest day of the year so far. There’s also the chance for an isolated strong or severe storm in far north Georgia.
Severe Weather Team 2 Meteorologist Brian Monahan says storms that develop will have the threat of damaging wind gusts and hail. Another cold front will bring more widespread showers and storms on Sunday.
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It will stay hot to start the weekend with feels like temperatures in the mid-to-upper 90s, but will cool back off next week.
And there are also El Niño conditions to watch as well. The weather pattern that occurs every two to seven years began in the Pacific on Thursday, according to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
With a strong El Niño in the forecast, Monahan looked back at what the weather as like across north Georgia doing those summers.
“If we look at the last three strong El Niños, and the summer months leading into them, all three featured below average temperatures for the summer in north Georgia,” Monahan says.
It also tends to lead to a wetter than average conditions in the Southeast, which would help with Georgia’s ongoing drought.
We’ve seen significant improvement in the drought since May 1, when 81% of the state was in at least an extreme drought. This week, just about 7% of the state is in extreme drought.
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