Potentially record warmth headed to Middle Georgia

MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – Today will be the start of a potentially record warm stretch of weather that will last into the start of the weekend. The primary driver of this pattern is expansive mid-level ridging starting to build across most of the central and southern U.S. Downstream of the ridge, a weak system moving across the Northeast U.S. will kick surface high pressure from over the Carolinas southwest across Georgia, settling over the northern Gulf by this evening. Low level winds over the state will flip to out of the west-southwest in response,  ushering in a much warmer airmass. Mid-level moisture also increases with this airmass, which is already being realized as most of the area is covered with low to mid-level stratus clouds. Remnant shallow dry air prevents moisture/rain from reaching the ground for most of the area, however, a few sprinkles cannot be ruled out, as there is a slight chance for light rain showers in far north Georgia. Clouds will gradually thin out during the day, with afternoon temperatures surging into the upper 60s to low 70s. Overnight into Wednesday morning, the combination of mostly clear skies, light winds, and increasing low-level moisture could lead to areas of fog developing. The best chances across South-Central Georgia and the north Georgia mountains. On Wednesday, the strong ridge continues to build over the region, reinforcing a much warmer than normal airmass in north and Middle Georgia. Low temps in the morning — low to mid  50s and high temps in the afternoon mid to upper 70s. That’s around 17-20 degrees warmer than normal for this time of the year. These are typical temperatures for early to mid October. Skies will be mostly clear with no rain chances across much of the area, but mid-level moisture will be higher in northwest Georgia and leads to partly to mostly cloudy skies.