Severe storms possible in Atlanta | Here’s a timeline of what to expect

ATLANTA — A significant severe weather outbreak will take place across the south Wednesday into Thursday. Several strong, long-track tornadoes will be possible in parts of Mississippi and Alabama.

In Georgia, damaging winds, tornadoes, hail and heavy rain will be possible as storms move through the area late Wednesday through early Thursday.

11Alive’s StormTrackers are following the weather conditions. Here is a timeline of when to expect severe weather.

Wednesday:

We are starting off with cloudy skies and patchy fog, but a scattered shower could develop at any time. Showers become more likely around mid-day, but our main storm and heavy rain threat holds off until tonight.

Right now, the Storm Prediction Center is already highlighting part of the southeast for a severe weather outbreak. For us, some stronger storms will be possible Wednesday overnight. 

We will have cloudy skies for much of the day with 30% to 40% chance for isolated showers. As the front gets closer to the area, we expect thunderstorms to fire up. The Storm Prediction Center has placed a Slight Risk (Level 2 out of 5) over our area. There is a rare High Risk (level 5 out of 5)over Mississippi and a Moderate Risk (level 4 out of 5) over Alabama. Long-track tornadoes are possible there. Although we are at slight risk, the thunderstorms in our area could produce damaging winds, lightning, heavy rain, and tornadoes.

The timing for the storms for our area will be after 6 or 7 pm. The threat for the showers and storms will be around overnight into Thursday morning.

Although the tornado risk is much greater west of our area, there is a chance for tornadoes here in Georgia, as well as hail and damaging winds. Storms will bring locally heavy rain, so we are watching the threat for street flooding.

Thursday

Some of the conditions from overnight Wednesday will linger into early Thursday morning.  Expect a wet morning commute with some showers and storms tracking through the metro area. A few of those storms could be strong to severe, especially south and east of Atlanta with damaging winds and tornadoes possible,

The Storm Prediction Center has Atlanta in a level 2 out of 5 severe risk for Thursday. There is a level 3 out of 5 for areas east and southeast of Atlanta. A level 4 out of 5 for our eastern most counties.

Here’s a look at the Forecast Track for Thursday morning, showing some of these showers and storms over the metro. 

The showers and storms exit the area by mid-day. There could be a few lingering showers thereafter, but no storms are expected.

How much rain will we get?

Early models show much of the area could see between 1 to 2 inches of rain, but areas out west off I-20, near Carrollton, could see as much as 4 inches.

It will be a drastic change from the previous 10+ days.

The exact timing, intensity, and storm threats are still to be fine-tuned as we get closer to it. Have your 11Alive App set for severe weather notifications so that you can get alerts overnight.

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