Georgia is bracing for its first serious heat wave of 2025, with some cities having a 75% chance of hitting triple digit temperatures this week.
🌡️ Why It Matters: Dangerous heat can cause serious health problems and drive up your power bills. Knowing when the worst heat hits helps you plan ahead and stay safe.
☀️ What’s Happening: The hottest days will be Tuesday through Friday across the state. Atlanta has the highest chance of reaching 100 degrees on Thursday at 75%. Athens and several other cities aren’t far behind with 70% odds on Thursday.
🔥 The Heat Map: Every major Georgia city has at least a 60% chance of triple-digit heat by mid-week. Columbus, Macon, and Rome all peak at 70% odds on Thursday. Even Monday starts the dangerous pattern with some cities already seeing elevated chances.
🏠 What This Means for You: Expect your air conditioning to work overtime and your electric bill to spike. Heat this intense can be deadly for older adults, young children, and people with health conditions. Pets are also at serious risk on hot pavement and in cars.
What’s the big deal?: High temperatures are dangerous because they can lead to heat-related illnesses, such as heat exhaustion or heat stroke, which occur when the body cannot cool itself effectively. Prolonged exposure to extreme heat can result in dehydration, organ damage, and in severe cases, can be fatal. Additionally, high temperatures can exacerbate pre-existing health conditions and place vulnerable populations, like the elderly and young children, at greater risk.
What is the Heat Index?: The heat index refers to what the temperature feels like when the air temperature is combined with relative humidity. The thermometer in your car may report 90 degree temperatures, but the humidity means that to your body, it will feel like it is over 100 degrees. The heat index is sometimes called the “apparent temperature.”
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Before You Dismiss This Article…
We live in a time when information feels overwhelming, but here’s what hasn’t changed: facts exist whether they comfort us or not.
When A&W launched their third-pound burger to compete with McDonald’s Quarter Pounder in the 1980s, it failed spectacularly. Not because it tasted worse, but because customers thought 1/3 was smaller than 1/4. If basic math can trip us up, imagine how easily we can misread complex news.
The press isn’t against you when it reports something you don’t want to hear. Reporters are thermometers, not the fever itself. They’re telling you what verified sources are saying, not taking sides. Good reporting should challenge you — that’s literally the job.
Next time a story makes you angry, pause. Ask yourself: What evidence backs this up? Am I reacting with my brain or my gut? What would actually change my mind? And most importantly, am I assuming bias just because the story doesn’t match what I hoped to hear.
Smart readers choose verified information over their own comfort zone.
B.T. Clark
B.T. Clark is an award-winning journalist and the Publisher of The Georgia Sun. He has 25 years of experience in journalism and served as Managing Editor of Neighbor Newspapers in metro Atlanta for 15 years and Digital Director at Times-Journal Inc. for 8 years. His work has appeared in several newspapers throughout the state including Neighbor Newspapers, The Cherokee Tribune and The Marietta Daily Journal. He is a Georgia native and a fifth-generation Georgian.
