ATLANTA – Metro Atlanta and much of North Georgia are enjoying another stretch of dry, sunny weather — but a change is coming by the end of the weekend.

Thursday morning started off comfortably cool, with most areas in the 50s and low 60s. Atlanta recorded a mild 66 degrees at sunrise, while mountain areas dipped into the 40s. Despite the crisp start, forecasters say temperatures will climb well above average again this afternoon, with highs in the low 80s and plenty of sunshine.

🌤 Forecast Breakdown

Thursday: Sunny and warm, high near 83°F 🌞
Friday: Mostly sunny, high 82°F ☀️
Saturday: Increasing clouds, still warm, high 81°F 🌤
Sunday: Showers likely, up to 0.5″ of rain expected 🌧
Monday: Cooler and breezy, high 72°F / low 48°F 🍂
Tuesday: Chilly morning, sunny afternoon 🌞

The next two days — Friday and Saturday — will stay warm and mostly clear, making for great outdoor conditions. Clouds will increase late Saturday night ahead of an approaching front that could finally bring rain to North Georgia.

Rain chances arrive early Sunday morning and continue through the day, tapering off by late afternoon. Totals are expected to stay light — less than half an inch for most areas — but the system will bring a noticeable cool down to start next week. Highs will fall into the 70s, and morning lows could dip into the 40s by Monday and Tuesday, marking the coolest mornings so far this fall.

ATLANTA – In week two of the federal government shutdown, agencies say most new research funding is on hold, a freeze that could slow innovation in Atlanta and beyond.

What they’re saying:

According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), no new grants are being processed, and most staff are furloughed. Once operating funds are exhausted at the National Science Foundation (NSF), the federal agency that funds most university research outside of medicine, normal operations will cease. Even a brief delay could have lasting effects on innovation within Atlanta’s growing life sciences economy.

“A lot of innovation is reliant on federal funding support, especially grants like the NIH,” said Ashley Cornelison, executive director of Portal Innovations Atlanta. “Companies’ access to that is going to be perhaps limited, and it will be really challenging for innovation to be able to scale. It could have some long-term effects.”

Portal provides lab space, funding and expert support to help early-stage biotech and medtech startups grow from university research into real companies. The life sciences incubator sits just off the Georgia Institute of Technology campus in Science Square, a public-private partnership on Tech-owned land designed to link university research with private-sector innovation.

One of the companies under the Portal umbrella, Topo DX, is developing faster lab tests to detect infections in hours instead of days, helping patients get the right antibiotics sooner.

“We want to help people, save lives and prevent overuse of antibiotics, which is a huge problem,” said Adam Krueger, co-founder and lead researcher at Topo DX. “Overuse of antibiotics and antimicrobial resistance is what they call the ‘silent pandemic.’ It’s a serious killer.”

Krueger built Topo DX from his research at Georgia Tech, as many Atlanta founders have done. The university routinely ranks among the top U.S. institutions in research activity.

On its website this week, Georgia Tech said the shutdown “is delaying payment for federally funded research activities at Georgia Tech, which represent more than $100 million per month in expenses.” The institute said it will begin implementing mitigation strategies “as early as next week to help ensure business continuity during this shutdown.”

“There’s a lot of grants that either aren’t being funded or there’s questions about them being continued,” Krueger said. “A lot of people are uncertain about their future and about their research future.”

Topo DX is applying for grants through the NSF but remains mostly privately funded. Krueger said the freeze will likely hit hardest at the seed stage of research.

“Research is all about finding something new, something that hasn’t been proven yet,” he said. “Private funding makes a lot of sense once you’ve proven what you have works. But in the seed stages, it’s high risk, high reward — and that’s where government funding really matters.”

At Portal, Cornelison said many founders are anxious about the uncertainty.

“They’re concerned about how it will impact not only them and their companies, but the therapies that they might be advancing,” she said.

Local perspective:

Before the shutdown, Portal began bridging the gap in federal funding with private capital, announcing a $100 million fundraising effort “to help these companies in this difficult time and really bridge them in the absence of what might have been other available resources,” Cornelison said.

Police in Clayton County found the body of 6-month-old Nnakai Pratt on Tuesday evening.

Clayton County Medical Examiner Brian Byars confirmed the identity of the body and said that an autopsy will be performed to determine the cause of death.

The child’s father, Antonio Pearce, has been arrested on unrelated charges. Police have not yet released additional details about his connection to the case.

Residents say the discovery has left the neighborhood in a state of shock. Meshia, who lives just a few buildings away, told CBS News Atlanta she’s heartbroken over what happened.

“I am heartbroken as a mother for the mother of the child,” she said. “There are other feelings … anger … That was a helpless baby. I am more mad than anything.”

Meshia said she learned about the tragedy as police swarmed the complex Sunday. Investigators combed through the area, and neighbors say the body was found behind a wooded area near where the infant lived.

The mother of two said her sadness has turned into concern — especially for the baby’s mother, who is now caring for the child’s twin sister.

“This is an all-around bad situation,” she said. “I know things happen, but this should never happen to kids.”

She added that she’s been trying to shield her own children from the painful news as the community comes to grips with the tragedy.

“We never saw the twins, but we knew he had them,” Meshia said. “We never saw the mother. I just knew he lived in the building across the street from me.”

Neighbors say the community is devastated and searching for strength as the investigation continues.