Atlanta Likely To Be The Coolest Spot in the Southeast Sunday
If you look at the forecast highs for Sunday, North Georgia is only expected to reach 60 degrees, while surrounding areas, including Tennessee, Alabama, and South Carolina will be close to 70. In fact, you would have to travel north to Boston, or northwest to the Great Plains to see similar low temperatures. The reason for the anomaly is the buildup of a classing wedging situation.
For the last few days, our weather has been dominated by a high pressure system centered over Eastern Canada. This has brought dry air down the East Coast. The low dewpoints allow the air to cool at night (last night’s low of 45 degrees, for example), but still warm up during the day.
On Saturday evening and Sunday, a low pressure system will approach from the west, bringing higher dewpoints, warmer air, and a chance of rain. Because the high is still bringing in dry air, and because the dry air is heavier than the more humid air, it will get trapped underneath the warm front.
The net effect will be to provide a cloudy day, where the temperatures never get a chance to recover from the cool nighttime temperatures. If there’s a positive side, the wedge will also prevent the worst of the rain, which could reach an inch or more to our west from getting into Georgia, particularly East and Central Georgia.
So, here’s my prediction for Sunday: If you see the temperatures rising much above 60, then expect some rain. The warm front will have won out over the wedge. On the other hand, if it stays cool, the rain will be minimal: less than a tenth of an inch.
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