Marine Weather and Tide Forecast for Columbus, GA

SHORT TERM
(Today through Thursday)
Issued at 243 AM EDT Wed Mar 18 2026

Dry weather continues through Thursday amid the start of a significant warming trend. For today, mid and high level clouds will stream across the area as a weak clipper system works through the northwest flow aloft. No precipitation will occur amid very dry low levels. High temperatures today will warm some ten degrees over yesterday, though still 8-12 degrees below normal.
Temperatures overnight will again be chilly, but Thursday morning lows will by and large will remain several degrees above freezing, mainly in the mid to upper 30s.

Another dry clipper will traverse the area on Thursday within persistent northwest flow aloft. Again, the airmass will remain too dry for any precipitation. Temperatures continue their consistent upward trajectory on Thursday, reaching the mid 60s to low 70s - right where we should be for mid-March.

LONG TERM
(Thursday night through Tuesday)
Issued at 243 AM EDT Wed Mar 18 2026

Dry and Warmer from Friday through the Weekend:

From Friday through the weekend, a very strong ridge over the Southwest US will slowly spread east into our area, providing a warming trend and continued dry conditions. High temperatures will return to the 70s on Friday, and 80s over the weekend. At this time, Sunday looks to be the warmest day of the next 7, with highs in the mid to upper 80s across the area, which would be near daily records. Morning lows will climbing back up to the 40s by Friday, and 50s over the weekend. Between the dry northwest mid-level flow, subsidence from the ridge, and the synoptic storm track remaining off to the north, rain chances will remain below 10% through at least Sunday.

Rain Chances May Return Early Next Week:

For early next week, model guidance starts to have quite a bit of spread, with some ensembles showing the ridge continuing to hold strong, and others having the ridge weakening as troughing drops into the central and eastern US. There has been a growing number of ensemble members showing the latter, which would start to bring some rain (and thunderstorm) chances back into our area, as well as cooling temperatures down a bit. Our confidence in the forecast for this time period is low, but should become much clearer in the coming days.

AVIATION
(06Z TAFS)
Issued at 132 AM EDT Wed Mar 18 2026

VFR will prevail through the period with intermittent BKN/OVC mid and high level clouds 10-25 kft through the afternoon. Winds will be light (largely 5 kts or less) with direction variable through the period. In general, direction will initially favor NW through 12Z, NE to E 12-18Z, and SW through 00Z.

//ATL Confidence
06Z Update
Medium confidence on wind direction.
High confidence on other elements.

RW

PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS
Athens 55 35 65 44 / 10 0 0 0 Atlanta 57 39 66 48 / 10 0 0 0 Blairsville 51 31 62 40 / 10 0 0 0 Cartersville 58 36 69 45 / 10 0 0 0 Columbus 61 38 70 46 / 0 0 0 0 Gainesville 54 36 65 45 / 10 0 0 0 Macon 58 37 69 45 / 0 0 0 0 Rome 60 36 71 46 / 10 0 0 0 Peachtree City 58 35 68 45 / 10 0 0 0 Vidalia 59 38 69 46 / 0 0 0 0

FFC WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES
Freeze Warning until 10 AM EDT this morning for GAZ001>009- 011>016-019>025-027-030>039-041>062-066>076-078>086-089>098- 102>113.