WEATHER: Cool start to May, additional rainfall on the way before sunshine returns to cap weekend

Chances of rain are in the forecast for the remainder of Friday, but they are slim at the moment in Northwest Georgia. It’s overnight and on Saturday that wet weather is more likely to return, with increasing chances of rain to open the month of May.

Only slight chances of showers are being predicted heading into midday of the opening of the month (and week’s end,) but rainfall is coming through the overnight hours and into Saturday morning.

The wet weather comes with an overall cooldown compared to where temperatures were in the middle of April, with highs in the upper 60s and low 70s around the region to cap off the week and dropping down overnight into the 40s as rain chances increase into early Saturday morning.

Rain should stick around and highs remain in the upper 60s in Northwest Georgia on Saturday, but expect the majority to happen during the early and mid morning hours before the latest front pushes through and brings some sunshine back.

Expect overnight lows on Saturday to dip into the 30s and low 40s in the area.

The sunshine should warm up the region on Sunday as highs get back into the upper 60s and 70s, but expect overnight lows back in the upper 30s and low 40s heading into the beginning of the week.

Skies will remain clear through the opening of the week as highs get back into the mid to upper 70s (more like what is expected in May) but lows will still be in the 40s overnight heading into Tuesday.

Rain chances are increasing for Tuesday night coming up, and will stick around through Wednesday and into Thursday in the week ahead. Highs are expected to remain in the upper 70s, and get down into the 50s overnight.

Look for a warming trend ahead after some rain showers are predicted again for Mother’s Day weekend, and highs getting back up into the 80s as the middle of the month.

Drought Update

Severe drought conditions continue to grow statewide, with much of Northwest Georgia either in moderate or severe levels per the U.S. Drought Monitor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

The National Weather Service updated their rainfall totals for the month in major metropolitan areas around the state as well. Metro Atlanta had just over 2 inches of rain for the month of April, Athens only had an inch and a half, and Macon was barely under two inches of rain. Columbus got the most rainfall through the past month, with just 2.95 inches. The average for the month on a 30-year timeframe? It should be at least four inches.

According to NWS Peachtree City, this is the first time in the 26-year history of the U.S. Drought Monitor has observed the entire state under drought conditions, with 80% of the state under extreme drought or greater.

A good majority of the nation is still dry – ranging from Maine in the northeast down to Florida, across the mid-Atlantic and down into the deep South and Texas. Essentially all of the west – Much of Kansas, essentially all of Nebraska, a majority of South Dakota and Montana are under some form of drought with the entire states of Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Oregon, and Wyoming are under some form of drought conditions as well. Regions of California, eastern Washington are also suffering from dry conditions.

It’s almost easier to list the states without drought, which can be found in Indiana, Michigan, North Dakota, Ohio and Wisconsin at the moment.

Even portions of Hawaii and Alaska are experiencing dry conditions – only Hawaii has an area of drought officially. Alaska is only “abnormally dry” right now in some regions of the state.