Marine Weather and Tide Forecast for Athens-Clarke County, GA

SHORT TERM
(This afternoon through Friday)
Issued at 146 PM EST Thu Mar 5 2026

A warm and humid airmass will remain locked in place across the area as an expansive subtropical ridge expands westward from the Atlantic. This pattern will lead to continued temperatures well above seasonal normals with both lows tonight and tomorrow night and forecast highs on Friday some 15-20+ degrees above normal. Forecast highs on Friday are near (or in Atlanta's case in exceedance of)
daily records at the four main climate sites given widespread temperatures in the 80s.

The fly in the ointment that could prevent record highs on Friday will be the return of isolated to scattered diurnally-enhanced showers and thunderstorms within the deep southerly flow around the western periphery of the ridge. Forecast MUCAPE of 1000-1500 J/kg Friday afternoon will support some thunderstorm activity, though the lack of kinematic support will prevent notable severe concerns.
Still, within this "summer-like" airmass, a couple of storms could produce locally gusty winds and brief heavy rainfall as they push north-northeastward. Coverage will then gradually decrease late Friday evening into Friday night.

LONG TERM
(Saturday morning through next Wednesday)
Issued at 146 PM EST Thu Mar 5 2026

Over the course of the extended, much of the Southeast will be presided over by the western edge of a subtropical ridge at the surface. A steady stream of warm, moist south/southwesterly flow will support unseasonable warmth through at least next Wednesday, along with truly summer-like chances for diurnally-enhanced showers and thunderstorms each day. Any disturbances traversing mid-level flow will serve to increase coverage of showers and thunderstorms beyond typical "summertime" distributions. Warm temperatures and PWATs on the order of 1.2-1.6" -- generally above the 90th percentile, and potentially approaching daily maximum values climatologically -- will support efficient rainfall producers, though patchy nature should help to mitigate more than nuisance flooding from occurring.

Over the course of the day Saturday, a broad cold front will sweep across ECONUS, bringing with it weakly bolstered kinematics (shear of 20 to 40kts) supportive of mostly straight hodographs. This combined with surface-based instability on the order of 1000 to 1500 J/kg will allow for the potential for a few strong to marginally severe storms to form during the afternoon and evening (and perhaps lingering after dark). The primary concern would be for isolated damaging wind gusts in any stronger/more weakly-organized clusters.
A Marginal Risk for severe thunderstorms has been analyzed across the northern half of the forecast area to highlight the risk for low- end severe storms.

As the aforementioned front slowly works its way to the southeast through early Monday, the western vestiges of our persistent surface high will be nudged offshore, briefly weakening southwesterly return flow. Chances for showers and thunderstorms will be highest and most widespread on Sunday as the front makes its way into north Georgia, before fizzling out midway through the area early Monday (as they tend to do), with unremarkable impacts to sensible weather otherwise. Temperatures will be just a tick lower on Sunday and Monday as a result of more pervasive cloud cover, but will rebound quickly as the high noses back atop central Georgia.

Highs each day will be in the upper 70s to upper 80s (aside from Sunday, where areas north of I-20 will feel the effects of the weak cold frontal passage and top out in the lower 70s), with lows in the mid-50s to lower 60s each night. Tuesday is likely to be the warmest day of the year thus far, with 90 not out of the question for portions of far southeast central Georgia, and overnight lows some 13 to 30 (!) degrees above average for March. Will need to continue to monitor the potential for record highs (and record high minimums) to be challenged or broken nearly every day in the extended -- see Climate section for more details.



AVIATION
(18Z TAFS)
Issued at 1220 PM EST Thu Mar 5 2026

Lingering MVFR cigs will quickly improve to VFR between 18-19Z.
VFR conditions will persist into tonight before deterioration from low cigs, largely after 10-12Z Friday. IFR cigs are more probable 12-16Z with patchy LIFR cigs also possible as well as reduced vsbys. Improvement back toward MVFR and VFR is expected 16-18Z Friday. Sct -SHRA/TSRA potential increases after 18Z Friday. SSW winds today become near calm overnight with direction shifting to SSE by 02-04Z and persisting SSE 4-8 kts Friday.

//ATL Confidence
18Z Update
Medium confidence.

RW

CLIMATE
Issued at 146 PM EST Thu Mar 5 2026

Records for 03-05

Max Temperature Min Temperature Station High Low High Low ------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- KAHN 81 1955 35 1960 61 1955 13 1960 KATL 81 1955 29 1960 64 1880 10 1960 KCSG 84 1989 40 1960 66 1945 19 1960 1923 KMCN 86 1961 41 1960 63 1961 19 1960 1917 1955

Records for 03-06

Max Temperature Min Temperature Station High Low High Low ------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- KAHN 82 1974 38 1965 61 1967 17 1960 KATL 80 2022 31 1901 60 1918 17 1960 1901 KCSG 85 1945 43 1965 63 1945 19 1960 KMCN 86 1961 35 1901 62 1983 19 1960 1967 1961

Records for 03-07

Max Temperature Min Temperature Station High Low High Low ------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- KAHN 82 1974 37 1920 63 1956 22 1920 KATL 80 1974 22 1899 64 1956 8 1899 KCSG 85 2023 40 1920 67 1918 24 1966 1918 KMCN 86 2023 38 1920 66 1961 20 1901

Records for 03-08

Max Temperature Min Temperature Station High Low High Low ------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- KAHN 83 1974 33 1996 61 1910 14 1920 KATL 82 1974 31 1996 60 1980 16 1920 KCSG 87 1925 36 1996 62 1980 19 1920 1946 KMCN 87 1974 37 1996 63 1946 17 1920

Records for 03-09

Max Temperature Min Temperature Station High Low High Low ------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- KAHN 84 2009 35 1960 59 1973 16 1996 1974 1925 KATL 84 1974 28 1932 60 2009 16 1996 1973 1903 KCSG 89 1925 44 1996 63 1973 20 1996 KMCN 88 1974 37 1932 62 1973 19 1996 1964

Records for 03-10

Max Temperature Min Temperature Station High Low High Low ------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- KAHN 88 1974 43 1998 60 1903 17 1932 1983 KATL 85 1974 37 1932 62 1997 15 1932 1925 KCSG 89 1974 38 1932 63 1973 21 1932 KMCN 90 1974 44 1932 63 1903 19 1932

Records for 03-11

Max Temperature Min Temperature Station High Low High Low ------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- KAHN 84 1925 38 1960 61 1986 22 1998 1969 1934 KATL 82 1990 35 1924 62 2016 20 1934 1955 KCSG 88 1925 45 1932 66 1974 24 1969 KMCN 86 1955 41 1924 63 1973 24 1998 1925 1903 1934

PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS
Athens 59 81 61 80 / 10 30 40 40 Atlanta 59 81 62 82 / 0 30 40 40 Blairsville 53 76 58 74 / 0 30 50 50 Cartersville 59 82 61 82 / 0 30 40 40 Columbus 60 83 62 84 / 10 40 20 30 Gainesville 58 79 62 78 / 0 30 50 40 Macon 61 83 63 84 / 10 20 20 20 Rome 61 85 65 86 / 0 30 40 40 Peachtree City 59 81 61 82 / 10 30 40 30 Vidalia 63 85 63 86 / 10 20 10 10

FFC WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES
None.