It was three years ago June 18th. I met my fishing buddies at Portman Marina. The wind was calm but the air was very sultry. I unloaded my gear from the car and by the time l got into the boat, l was drenched in sweat. Dew points that morning were in the 70s! The lake was a perfect mirror with a clear sky.
This photo from the NWS has sharp-edged clouds, indicating a powerhouse storm.
After lunch, we headed up north. Temperatures were now getting really warm and that high humidity made it rather uncomfortable. No matter, we were catching some decent spots. Our blue sky was now being dotted with white, puffy, cumulus clouds, adding some beautiful texture I looked back to the southwest and on the horizon, the clouds are no longer soft. They had hard, crisp edges, almost like bubbling marble. They were growing vertically at a rate that suggested massive instability. I took out my radar app and saw a pretty good rain shower. It was still far away. Nothing to be concerned about right now. (Clouds tell the story. You can see in these pictures from the National Weather Service, the top one has sharp-edged clouds, indicating a powerhouse storm. The photo below shows soft edges, indicating a non-severe storm.)
Soft-edged clouds.
About 30 minutes later, this storm was growing, It had to be up around 40,000 feet. The sky was dark but taking on a bit of a green glow. I immediately told the guys there was likely hail in that storm and we needed to head back. No one argued. (You can see the sky in this NWS photo is greenish. That means hail.
Normally, summer pop-up storms are slow movers and take their time so you can get out of the way. Not this bad boy. It was up on us in no time. There was a cold rush of wind down the main channel. I bet the temperature dropped 15 degrees. Lightning was beginning to get closer. Rain drops began to fall and we soon became engulfed in a torrential downpour. Rain, wind, and now some real chop on the lake giving my friend’s Ranger bass boat all it could handle. We made it back to the dock with white knuckles, holding on for dear life. Then a crack of lightning hit just a 100 yards away. The thunder was instantaneous! We were all in our cars, safe and sound, in awe of how fast things escalated. That decision to leave our fishing spot when we did, was very much appreciated by the group.
This photo from the NWS shows a green sky which means hail.
The bottom line is, always be prepared for a summer storm. Even if a forecast only calls for a 20% chance, you could be in that 20%. Just remember a 20% chance on a summer day shouldn’t be interpreted as “it probably won’t rain.” It means the atmosphere is highly capable of producing dangerous, localized storms, but they will be scattered like buckshot. 80% of the county might stay bone dry, but if you happen to sit underneath one of those isolated 20% blocks, you are going to get a torrential downpour, lightning, hail, and potentially a microburst.
Looking ahead, the weather patterns show a developing Super El Niño. The temperature patterns show a tendency for below-normal temperatures in Georgia. That would mean low to mid 80s instead of upper 80s and low 90s. The all-time record high temperature for Atlanta in June is 106, which was set on June 30, 2012. This extreme heat occurred during a historic heatwave that also saw temperatures reach 104 just one day earlier, on June 29, 2012. Other notable June temperature records in Atlanta include reaching 100 on June 26, 2024, which matched a daily record that had stood for 100 years.
It can get cool too! The lowest temperature ever recorded in Atlanta during June is 39 set on June 1, 1889. The coolest high temperature was 66, which occurred in 1927. More recently, June 16, 2020, became the 6th coolest June afternoon on record with a high of only 75. This was especially unusual as it occurred without any measurable rainfall, driven instead by a persistent easterly wind from an upper-level low. As far as rainfall, indicates are for basically normal rainfall. While we typically average between 3.5 and 4.5 inches of rain in June, we have experienced significant rainfall.
The wettest day ever recorded in Atlanta during this month was June 5, 2013, when 4.14 inches of rain fell. The wettest June in Atlanta’s history occurred in 1900, with a total of 9.34 inches of rain. In June 2025, the metro area experienced an 11-day stretch of consecutive daily rainfall from June 4 to June 14.
Have a great month and please be aware of those summer storms.
Photos: courtesy National Weather Service
