The National Weather Service forecasts cloudy skies here in Cobb County on Monday, March 4, 2024, with a high near 71 degrees.

The National Weather Service has issued a hazardous weather outlook for Cobb County and other parts of the region due to patchy dense fog with visibilities of one quarter mile or less that will continue through 9 a.m this morning.

What does the extended forecast have in store?

Today

Areas of fog before 10 a.m. Otherwise, cloudy, then gradually becoming mostly sunny, with a high near 71. East wind 5 to 10 mph. 

Tonight

Mostly cloudy, with a low around 54. Southeast wind 5 to 10 mph. 

Tuesday

Showers likely, mainly after 3 p.m. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 66. East wind around 10 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60 percent. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible. 

Tuesday Night

Showers, with thunderstorms also possible after 10 p.m. Low around 56. East wind 10 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90 percent.

Wednesday

A chance of showers before 10 a.m, then a chance of showers and thunderstorms between 10 a.m and 1 p.m, then a slight chance of showers after 1 p.m. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 67. North wind around 10 mph becoming northwest in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 15 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30 percent.

Wednesday Night

Partly cloudy, with a low around 49.

Thursday

Mostly sunny, with a high near 72.

Thursday Night

A 30 percent chance of showers after 1 a.m. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 53.

Friday

Showers likely, mainly after 1 p.m. Cloudy, with a high near 67. Chance of precipitation is 70 percent.

Friday Night

Showers, with thunderstorms also possible after 1 a.m. Some of the storms could produce heavy rainfall. Low around 56. Chance of precipitation is 90 percent.

Saturday

A 50 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 67.

Saturday Night

A 30 percent chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 43.

Sunday

Mostly sunny, with a high near 58.

What was the climate like in the latest reporting period?

The NWS climate summary for metro Atlanta has now been updated with February 2024 figures.

In an article entitled What is the Difference between Climate and Weather?, the National Ocean Service describes the difference as follows:

“Weather is what you see outside on any particular day. So, for example, it may be 75° degrees and sunny or it could be 20° degrees with heavy snow. That’s the weather.

“Climate is the average of that weather. For example, you can expect snow in the Northeast in January or for it to be hot and humid in the Southeast in July. This is climate. The climate record also includes extreme values such as record high temperatures or record amounts of rainfall. If you’ve ever heard your local weather person say “today we hit a record high for this day,” she is talking about climate records.

“So when we are talking about climate change, we are talking about changes in long-term averages of daily weather. In most places, weather can change from minute-to-minute, hour-to-hour, day-to-day, and season-to-season. Climate, however, is the average of weather over time and space.”

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The climate report for the Atlanta area for the previous month shows how much departure from the average temperatures that month represents. The average temperature for a date is the average over a 30-year period.

Date	High	Low	Average	Departure from norm	Precipitation
2024-02-01	63	33	48	2.2	0
2024-02-02	70	41	55.5	9.5	0
2024-02-03	62	46	54	7.8	0
2024-02-04	50	42	46	-0.3	0.51
2024-02-05	59	42	50.5	4	0.07
2024-02-06	65	40	52.5	5.8	0
2024-02-07	59	37	48	1.1	0
2024-02-08	56	39	47.5	0.4	0
2024-02-09	63	47	55	7.7	0
2024-02-10	66	56	61	13.5	0.06
2024-02-11	68	60	64	16.3	0.59
2024-02-12	61	49	55	7.1	2.25
2024-02-13	57	41	49	0.9	T
2024-02-14	66	37	51.5	3.2	0
2024-02-15	69	41	55	6.5	0
2024-02-16	65	50	57.5	8.7	0
2024-02-17	57	36	46.5	-2.5	0.01
2024-02-18	53	31	42	-7.2	0
2024-02-19	62	39	50.5	1	0
2024-02-20	62	37	49.5	-0.2	0
2024-02-21	66	38	52	2	0
2024-02-22	70	44	57	6.8	0
2024-02-23	68	54	61	10.6	0.18
2024-02-24	66	43	54.5	3.8	0
2024-02-25	64	34	49	-1.9	0
2024-02-26	73	44	58.5	7.3	0
2024-02-27	73	56	64.5	13.1	T
2024-02-28	75	44	59.5	7.8	0.22
2024-02-29	53	38	45.5	-6.3	0

Climate Almanac for metro Atlanta

This almanac provides information on past climate conditions for today’s date, March 4, allowing a comparison to current weather. 

Simply put, it helps you see what the weather would typically be like on this day, according to historical data.

Daily Data	Observed	Normal	Record Highest	Record Lowest
Max Temperature	M	63	82 in 1976	28 in 1893
Min Temperature	M	43	62 in 1880	14 in 1943
Avg Temperature	M	52.7	70.5 in 1992	23.0 in 1893
Precipitation	M	0.17	3.75 in 1929	0.00 in 2023
Snowfall	M	0.0	T in 1971	0.0 in 2023
Snow Depth	M	–	T in 1960	0 in 2023
HDD (base 65)	M	13	42 in 1893	0 in 2022
CDD (base 65)	M	0	6 in 1992	0 in 2023
Month-to-Date Summary	Observed	Normal	Record Highest	Record Lowest
Avg Max Temperature	60.3	62.2	79.5 in 1976	36.0 in 1960
Avg Min Temperature	43.7	42.4	58.5 in 1955	20.5 in 1980
Avg Temperature	52.0	52.3	67.5 in 1997	30.6 in 1960
Total Precipitation	1.11	0.67	4.62 in 1971	0.00 in 2022
Total Snowfall	0.0	0.1	4.2 in 2009	0.0 in 2024
Max Snow Depth	0	–	4 in 1942	0 in 2024
Total HDD (base 65)	38	52	136 in 1960	0 in 1955
Total CDD (base 65)	0	1	14 in 1997	0 in 2024
Year-to-Date Summary	Observed	Normal	Record Highest	Record Lowest
Avg Max Temperature	58.4	56.5	63.9 in 2023	45.4 in 1905
Avg Min Temperature	39.0	37.6	46.0 in 2023	24.7 in 1977
Avg Temperature	48.7	47.0	55.0 in 2023	36.1 in 1977
Total Precipitation	11.43	9.81	21.05 in 2020	3.09 in 1938
Total Snowfall (since July 1)	T	1.9	10.9 in 1936	0.0 in 2019
Max Snow Depth (since July 1)	0	–	8 in 1940	0 in 2024
Total HDD (since July 1)	1807	2145	3486 in 1977	1402 in 2017
Total CDD (since Jan 1)	2	3	35 in 2023	0 in 2020

Period of Record:

• Max Temperature : 1878-10-04 to 2024-03-03
• Min Temperature : 1878-10-04 to 2024-03-03
• Precipitation : 1878-10-01 to 2024-03-03
• Snowfall : 1928-12-25 to 2024-03-03
• Snow Depth : 1928-12-25 to 2024-03-03

For much more information on the climate in our area, visit the NWS Climate FAQ for the Atlanta area.

What does the National Weather Service do?

The National Weather Service (NWS) is a part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

The NWS describes its role as follows:

“The National Weather Service (NWS) provides weather, water, and climate forecasts and warnings for the United States, its territories, adjacent waters and ocean areas, for the protection of life and property and the enhancement of the national economy. 

“These services include Forecasts and Observations, Warnings, Impact-based Decision Support Services, and Education in an effort to build a Weather-Ready Nation. The ultimate goal is to have a society that is prepared for and responds to weather, water and climate events.”