Hurricane & Tropical Storm Warnings & Watches Up For All of Georgia including the Northern Mountains

Photo byNational Hurricane Center

It is rare to see tropical storm and/or hurricane warnings up so far inland but for perhaps the first time, we have Hurricane & Tropical Storm Warnings up for the entire state of Georgia. This includes the North Georgia Mountains as well as the mountains in Western North Carolina!

Photo byTropical Tidbits

The above weather model shows that the track of Hurricane Helene will take it into North Florida Thursday evening and then northward through the state of Georgia Thursday night into Friday morning. The loop starts at 8am Thursday 9/26/24 and ends at 8am Friday 9/26/24. This is an unsual hurricane due to the presence of an upper air storm system in the lower Mississippi Valley. This upper low not only steers the storm northward, but energy from that upper air storm will keep the storm from weakening too quickly. Instead the core of the storm remains intact as it heads northward. This will produce an area of strong winds of 50 to 60 mph and some gusts will be even higher in the North Georgia mountains late Thursday night into Friday morning. Further south in Southern Georgia we will see sustained winds of 50 mph or more with gusts past hurricane force.

Photo byweather prediction center

Heavy flooding rains will be a huge issue for the state except for perhaps the southeast. Up to a foot of rain is forecast for the North Georgia Mountains as well as the mountains of Western North Carolina. We could see catastrophic flooding in some areas due to the strong southeast flow on the east side of the storm center. These winds will blow into the mountains. The rising air will cause tropical moisture to be wrung out like a wet sponge. The metro Atlanta area will experience tropical storm conditions as well and this will create massive disruptions for residents and travelers. Please keep abreast with all the latest weather information being issued by your local National Weather Service forecast office.