Unstable Air Could Bring More Powerful Thunderstorms Today

The possibility of strong thunderstorms, like those that rumbled through Northeast Georgia and the Upstate over the weekend, is expected to continue through today.

That’s according to meteorologist Jeff Taylor with the National Weather Service in Greenville-Spartanburg.

“Over the last few days it’s not your typical summertime storms we get this time of year,” he said. “Most days we’ve had more going on in the upper atmosphere. We’ve had some upper level features over the region that helped to strengthen these storms.”

The worst of the bad weather this weekend hit early Saturday morning while most people slept.

High winds, driving rain, and dozens of lightening strikes downed trees and power lines from Stephens to Hart counties and portions of the Upstate.

By morning, Hart EMC had reported over 2,200 customers without power, mainly in Franklin and Hart Counties.  Georgia Power reported just over 500 customers in the region without power Saturday morning.

“The bad storm that came through early this morning has left with thousands of outages, said Hart EMC spokesman Keith Brown Saturday. “We deployed all of our resources plus some contract labor that we had available. We’re hoping to have everything back on by the end of the day, but it just depends on how much damage we find as we go into the areas that have been affected.”

One Hart EMC crew member told WNEG News Saturday they had been working around the clock since Thursday night when a powerful thunderstorm moved through Elbert County causing downed trees and power lines.

By Saturday evening, most customers were back on the grid just in time for another round of storms to move through.

The unstable atmosphere brought another round of storms Sunday afternoon.  Sunday evening, Hart EMC reported just 10 customers still without power – six in Stephens County and four in Hart County.

Taylor said the pattern of unstable air will continue through today.

“There’s a good chance of another round of showers and thunderstorms and some could be strong to severe over Northeast Georgia and all of North Georgia,” Taylor explained. “So we’re not really done yet with this pattern of activity. Once we get into Tuesday, there could be some thunderstorms, but they should be weaker. The stronger stuff should be done.”

As for how the upcoming July 4th weather is shaping up,Taylor said it is too soon to tell.