Wednesday morning marks 48 hours before the onset of Friday’s forecast, and thankfully, forecast guidance models are coming into better agreement with regards to this weekend’s weather.

Recall in my previous blog post that I was concerned about model run-to-run inconsistency, as well as divergence between our main long-range forecast models, the GFS and the ECMWF.

As of Wednesday morning, the GFS (”American Model”) is coming in line with the ECMWF (”European Model”), so that is certainly good news! It’s easier to give a forecast with confidence when our guidance is in line with each other.

In addition, the short-term models are coming in. While the NAM is most bullish regarding freezing rain across North Georgia, it tends to run colder than the other guidance models.

I prefer to do my “short term forecasting” with the HRRR (it’s not always perfect, but it gets the job done). The 12z (7am ET) Wednesday HRRR indicates that Friday morning will stay mainly dry -- cold, but dry.

And while it will be cold, it won’t be cold enough to support wintry mix (freezing rain/sleet/snow) to stick on the ground in Metro Atlanta on Friday morning.

Below is the outlook from the National Weather Service in Peachtree City regarding Friday morning through Saturday morning. While a light amount of snow is possible in Northeast Georgia, little to none should be expected for Metro Atlanta.

The National Weather Service is also anticipating between 0.01″ to 0.05″ of ice (freezing rain/sleet) accumulation in East Georgia. The key thing to remember with this amount of ice is that while it’s not crippling, it’s just enough to make slick conditions on surface streets.

Bottom Line: Travel Cautiously Friday and All Will Be Fine

Our colleagues within the Triple Team Traffic Center will keep an eye on the roads for you Friday morning through Friday afternoon in the event that any light precipitation causes any issues for the Metro Atlanta area.

All in all, this Friday’s weather poses to be a “non-event” for the Metro Atlanta area. If forecast data changes, we will keep you updated on 95.5 WSB!

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