Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS Atlanta, GA
Issued by NWS Atlanta, GA
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740 FXUS62 KFFC 272358 AFDFFC Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Peachtree City GA 758 PM EDT Mon Apr 27 2026 ...New 00Z Aviation Discussion... .KEY MESSAGES... - Several rounds of showers and thunderstorms are forecast for north and central Georgia over the next week. Despite this, little to no meaningful improvement to ongoing drought is anticipated. - Some thunderstorms may become strong to severe Tuesday morning and overnight Tuesday into Wednesday with the main threats being strong wind gusts, hail, and isolated spin up tornado. - Fairly seasonal temperatures (70s & 80s) are expected through at least the weekend. && .SHORT TERM... (This afternoon through Tuesday) Issued at 246 PM EDT Mon Apr 27 2026 A ridge of high pressure centered over Atlantic Canada and stretching south along the Appalachians into north Georgia remains in place this evening. This is promoting stable conditions and cooler temperatures. Partly cloudy conditions will persist into tonight, and overnight lows will be in the low 50s to near 60. Early tomorrow morning, instability pushes into north Georgia ahead of a frontal boundary. Showers are likely over north Georgia and possible over central Georgia. Model guidance has limited agreement on the strength of these showers and their timing, but it`s likely to be early morning into midday. Showers are likely to weaken, and decrease in geographic coverage as they move further into Georgia. Embedded thunderstorms are possible, with a higher risk over NW GA. A lull in activity is likely during the afternoon and early evening. On Tuesday night, another surge of moisture is expected to push over the state. There is good consensus from model guidance for precipitable water values in excess of the 90th percentile (which is around 1.6 inches for April 28/29). Showers and periods of rain are expected late tomorrow night, after midnight local, with isolated to scattered embedded thunderstorms. The thunderstorm risk does decrease as the disturbance moves eastward across Georgia. PoPs overnight are in excess of 80% for most of the Atlanta metro and northward. && .LONG TERM... (Wednesday morning through next Sunday) Issued at 246 PM EDT Mon Apr 27 2026 No major changes made to the extended forecast. The main feature of the rest of the week will be the return of consistent rain chances nearly everyday through the weekend. The greatest chances for notable rainfall will be Tuesday into Wednesday as a stronger shortwave moves along the subtropical jet towards the northeast CONUS. Subsequent surface low development will drive strong moisture advection across the state. Confidence is increasing in thunderstorm potential Wednesday. Ample destabilization and low level dynamics will be in play. The main feature to watch will be the evolution of the approaching front and subsequent stalling. This front will act as a focal point for convection Wednesday and could produce multiple rounds of storms. The greatest storm threat looks to be in northern Georgia, where storms could become strong to severe. Tuesday night/Wednesday morning: Models have consistently attempted to fire convection along the boundary which develops due to any morning system. Confidence in this development is also limited as it is so heavily reliant on diurnal heating to trigger along the weak boundary, and dynamics are out of phase of the main system. Will still need to keep an eye on this time. Wednesday afternoon: Wednesday afternoon convection will be reliant on prior development of the first two rounds. Shear and instability will be strong enough to support scattered thunderstorm and potentially discrete cell formation. Exact location will depend on prior event development. All threats could be in play with stronger storm development. By Thu/Fri the wave/front will have moved south into North FL with the tail end of the front still across AL/MS. This will allow another wave to push east out of the MS river valley and into west GA by Fri morning. This wave will be along the tail end of the aforementioned front which turn into a warm front as it pushes northward into the weekend. A closed low center develops along this front across MS and moves east across AL and into GA by daybreak Sat. This final low center pushes across the state with the trailing frontal boundary exiting the area by daybreak Sun. Now...with all this in mind North and central GA will be seeing a lot of precip chances over the next 7 days. Most locations across North and Central GA should see a 7 day precip total in the 1" to 2" range. There will be some locations across North GA (north of the ATL area) that see precip totals in the 2" to 3" range. These are definitely much needed precip totals but still not enough to get us out of our drought. High temperatures will be warm, but comfortable, reaching from the mid 70s to the upper 80s. Looking further out, to the end of next week. Models have been trending towards the development of a blocking pattern over the Atlantic, which would suggest further potential cooling for next weekend. Again, this will likely be a waiting game. && .AVIATION... (00Z TAFS) Issued at 745 PM EDT Mon Apr 27 2026 VFR conditions until ~10z as a broken line of -SHRA pushes in from the north. Low chance for TSRA within this line from 11-14z. Low end MVFR conditions push in behind the showers with SCT IFR possible from 15z through 17z before scattering out with a SCT to BKN cu deck ~3-4kft. SHRA pushes in again late in the period ~04z on the 29th with TSRA possible ~06z. SSE winds turn to the SW ~17z tomorrow. //ATL Confidence...00Z Update... Medium confidence on TSRA making it to ATL. Medium confidence on IFR/MVFR potential. Medium to high confidence on all other elements. Hernandez && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... Athens 53 76 61 79 / 10 40 80 80 Atlanta 58 79 64 79 / 20 50 90 70 Blairsville 51 69 56 73 / 50 60 90 90 Cartersville 57 79 61 79 / 50 60 90 80 Columbus 58 84 64 85 / 10 40 60 50 Gainesville 55 74 62 78 / 30 50 90 80 Macon 53 83 63 84 / 0 30 60 50 Rome 58 80 63 82 / 60 60 90 90 Peachtree City 55 80 61 81 / 20 50 70 60 Vidalia 53 87 64 87 / 0 10 30 40 && .FFC WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... None. && $$ SHORT TERM...CRS LONG TERM....01 AVIATION...Hernandez