textproduct: Atlanta/Peachtree City

KEY MESSAGES

Updated at 227 PM EDT Sat Mar 21 2026

- Isolated thunderstorms, producing 40-50 MPH winds will be possible in extreme northeast GA between 6-10PM this evening.

- A cold front will bring additional rain and thunder chances next week. Strong winds may accompany storms on Monday in Central GA highlighted by a Marginal Risk area.

SHORT TERM

(This afternoon through Sunday) Issued at 227 PM EDT Sat Mar 21 2026

Temperatures in the 70s and mostly clear skies make for a fantastic Saturday across North and Central Georgia. Latest satellite imagery does indicate a few areas where prescribed burns are ongoing across the region. Thus skies may appear a little hazy in the vicinity of where burning is occurring. Though latest surface observations do not suggest impactful reductions to surface visibilities. While skies remain mostly clear at the moment, increasing clouds are plausible through the evening particularly over the northeast as a mid-level disturbance swings through the TN Valley. Limited moisture will accompany this disturbance but isolated showers and thunderstorms are not out of the question for locations from Fannin County down to Banks County eastward. SPC maintains a Marginal Risk (Level 1 of 5) that clips our far northeast counties (mainly Towns) for a few southeastward moving stronger storms. The most likely timeframe for this threat will be between 6 to 10 PM.

Sunday morning, isolated areas of patchy fog will be possible mainly across North and west Georgia. Though this will quickly burn off following sunrise as southwest winds begin to pick up. Fairly rinse and repeat forecast for Sunday minus the rain/thunder chances. Forecast highs will climb into the upper 70s to 80s by the afternoon for all of North and Central Georgia. Additional opportunities for rain will hold off until the work week discussed in the long term discussion below.

LONG TERM

(Monday morning through next Friday) Issued at 227 PM EDT Sat Mar 21 2026

Surface high pressure centered over the Gulf this weekend continues into Monday morning. It does weaken a bit and begins to push across florida and out into the Atlantic Monday afternoon as a cold front moves south through GA. This front moves south out of the northern plains/great lake states Sunday morning moving quickly south into North GA by 12z Mon. By the time it reaches the TN/GA border a lot of the deeper moisture and dynamics will have move east into the Carolinas and the Mid Atlantic states. Portions of North GA may see a showers or two Mon morning but its looking like all we will see is just increased cloud cover across the area. This front continues to push south then stalling along the GA/FL border Tue morning. This will allow a wave developing over KS along the tail end of the front to move SE and push across MS/AL Tue and into GA Wed. The GFS and ECMWF are still not in great agreement but the GFS is beginning to look a bit more like the ECMWF has the past few day. It is beginning to look like we will see some precip Wed but the wave does not look as potent as it did the past few model runs. For now keeping 20% to 30% PoPs over the area Tue night into Wed. Once this wave moves east of the area, things dry back out for the end of the week.

As for temps, still looking for near record highs Mon especially across east central portions of the state where we will see temps in the 85 to 90 deg range. Temps will cool a bit Tue and Wed as the front moves through with another warm up by the end of the week.

AVIATION

(18Z TAFS) Issued at 112 PM EDT Sat Mar 21 2026

VFR at all sites through the period. Winds will be W/WSW at 8-10kts with isolated gusts up to 18kts thru 00z, then diminish to 4-6kts. Winds will favor a similar direction on Sunday picking up after 14z. FEW cirrus (15 to 25 kft) and low clouds (7-8kft) will be possible thru 00z before clearing out. Similar to yesterday, smoke plumes from prescribed burns and wildfires are visible on satellite but observations have not suggested impactful reductions to surface visibilities.

//ATL Confidence...18Z Update...

High confidence on all elements.

07

PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS

Athens 59 84 63 82 / 10 0 0 10 Atlanta 59 84 62 79 / 0 0 0 10 Blairsville 53 80 59 74 / 20 0 0 0 Cartersville 56 85 61 78 / 0 0 0 0 Columbus 54 85 57 84 / 0 0 0 10 Gainesville 59 83 63 79 / 10 0 0 10 Macon 56 85 60 85 / 0 0 0 10 Rome 58 87 62 79 / 0 0 0 0 Peachtree City 56 84 59 81 / 0 0 0 10 Vidalia 58 87 60 87 / 0 0 0 10

FFC WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

None.