Showers, storms hitting parts of metro Atlanta

ATLANTA — Showers and storms are moving across parts of metro Atlanta right now.

A Severe Thunderstorm Warning has been issued for Stephens, Habersham, Rabun and Oconee counties until 4:45 p.m.

Severe Weather Team 2 is tracking the timing of rain in your neighborhood, on Channel 2 Action News at 6 p.m.

Storms will increase across north Georgia later Saturday morning and into the afternoon.

A Severe Thunderstorm Watch is in effect for northeast Georgia until 4 p.m. Saturday.

The main risks are heavy rain, frequent lightning, and strong 40 to 60 mph wind gusts, Severe Weather Team 2 Meteorologist Brian Monahan said.

“After storms move through today, we’ll get into a drier weather pattern as a ridge of high pressure builds aloft,” Monahan said. “That will shift the greatest chance of storms tomorrow toward the north Georgia mountains.”

This pattern will continue into Wednesday, with a 20 to 30 percent chance of storms each day.

With drier weather moving in, temperatures will push into the low to mid 90s.

1. Updated hour-by-hour cloud and rain forecast showing the timeline of evening showers and storms and the preferred location for storms Sunday into early this week.

2. Updated severe weather outlook for Saturday evening.

3. A specific breakdown of where the highest chance of rain is Sunday.

Powerful storms downed trees and power lines across the Atlanta metro Friday evening and more are possible throughout the weekend.

One of the giant trees in Colette Inomata’s East Cobb backyard came crashing to the ground during the storms.

"I jumped up, looked in my backyard and the trees were sideways, and I've never seen anything like this in my entire life," Inomata told Channel 2's Justin Wilfon.

Inomata and her son told Wilfon they were inside their home when the storm blew through.

“All of a sudden the sound just shifted dramatically, and I heard this whish, whish sound or something.  I don’t know what it was,” Inomata said.

That’s when she said they headed for a downstairs closet.

“I’m more of the panicker, so I was screaming for them to come downstairs and take cover immediately. I think they sensed from my voice tone that something was really wrong,” Inomata told Wilfon.

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Then the family noticed the large tree laying across their backyard.

“I was really shook up. You keep thinking of the what ifs and what it could have been,” Inomata said. “I’m grateful. Feeling blessed that it wasn’t the house or the kids or anything like that.”

The storms weakened throughout the evening Friday as they moved east out of Georgia. The threat of severe weather will pick back up with the heating of the day on Saturday.

"As we head into the afternoon there are better rain chances," said Severe Weather Team 2's Brad Nitz. 

Nitz said another round of possible severe storms will move into north Georgia after 6 p.m. Saturday.

“These storms could have heavy rain, gusty wind, lightning and even some small hail,” Nitz said.

Highs Saturday will reach the high 80s, close to 90 throughout the metro.

Things will heat up a bit Sunday, with temperatures in the low 90s. Rain chances are expected to increase by midweek.

A Minute-by-Minute look at the storms:

10 p.m.: A Severe Thunderstorm Warning has been issued for Floyd and Bartow counties until 10:30 p.m.

7:02 p.m.: A Severe Thunderstorm Warning has been issued for Spalding, Meriwether, Fayette, Pike, Heard, Coweta and Lamar counties until 7:30 p.m.

6:37 p.m.: A Severe Thunderstorm Warning has been issued for Heard and Coweta counties until 7p.m.

6:36 p.m.: Storms have downed a number of trees across Milton

6:16 p.m.: A Severe Thunderstorm Warning has been issued for Meriwether, Troup and Coweta counties until 7 p.m.

6:13 p.m.: Georgia Power is reporting about 4,100 customers are currently without power across metro:

6:10 p.m. A viewer sent in a picture of a tree down across the road along Whitlock Avenue in Marietta:

6:06 p.m. Channel 2's Lauren Pozen just tweeted this video of heavy rain in Buckhead

6:04 p.m. a Severe Thunderstorm Warning has been issued for DeKalb, Douglas, Clayton and Fulton counties until 6:45 p.m.

6:01 p.m.: The Forsyth County Sheriff's Office is warning about fallen trees and powerlines:

5:58 p.m.: Channel 2's Richard Elliot is reporting that a tree has fallen across Interstate 20.

Scattered showers, storms into Saturday evening Meteorologist Brian Monahan has your Saturday evening weather forecast.

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