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.”
How to Read and Understand the News
Truth doesn’t bend because we dislike it.
Facts don’t vanish when they make us uncomfortable.
Events happen whether we accept them or not.
Good reporting challenges us. The press isn’t choosing sides — it’s relaying what official, verified sources say. Blaming reporters for bad news is like blaming a thermometer for a fever.
Americans have a history of misunderstanding simple things. In the 1980s, A&W rolled out a 1/3-pound burger to compete with McDonald’s Quarter Pounder. It failed because too many people thought 1/3 was smaller than 1/4. If we can botch basic math, we can certainly misread the news.
Before dismissing a story, ask yourself:
- What evidence backs this?
- Am I reacting to facts or feelings?
- What would change my mind?
- Am I just shooting the messenger?
And one more: Am I assuming bias just because I don’t like the story?
Smart news consumers seek truth, not comfort.
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.
