Valley Cool-Down: Columbus Wakes Up Near 59 on Friday
When does the cooler air arrive in Columbus this week?
Cooler, drier air reaches Columbus and the rest of west Georgia and east Alabama on Thursday, with Friday morning starting near 59 degrees in Columbus.
Photo: Greta Hoffman / Pexels
Step outside in Columbus this afternoon and the air still feels like August. The airport is reporting 85 degrees with a dew point near 72, which is why the walk from the car to the front door is still a sticky one. By Friday morning that air will be gone.
Forecasters at the National Weather Service in Peachtree City spent this morning describing the setup. A strong area of high pressure over New England is shoving cool, dry air southward along the eastern slope of the Appalachians while an upper-level low turns over the Carolinas. That shallow layer of cool air slides into west Georgia and east Alabama on a northeast wind, and it arrives with low clouds that will hold Thursday's high in Columbus near 81. Rain chances fall to essentially nothing from Thursday through the weekend.
The number worth repeating is the dew point. Dew point is simply the temperature the air has to cool to before moisture starts condensing out of it, so the higher it is, the heavier the day feels. Ours has been sitting in the low 70s. Peachtree City expects dew points in the 40s across the region by Friday morning, and the forecasters were startled enough by their own numbers to say so twice in the same paragraph.
Columbus has logged 96 days at 90 degrees or above this year, 37 of them at 95 or better, with a peak of 100 degrees on August 17, and the airport is in a run of 11 straight days at 90 or above. Today's forecast high of 89 would end that run. Friday morning bottoms out near 59, seven degrees below the normal low of 66 for this date.
The afternoons stay warm — 83 Friday, 85 Saturday, 87 Sunday — so this is a cool-morning pattern rather than a cold one. Open the windows Thursday night. If you walk the RiverWalk at sunrise Friday, take the jacket and plan on leaving it in the car by lunchtime.
Right now in Columbus, Georgia
85°Temperature
70°Dew point
60%Humidity
6 mphWind — east
30.03"Pressure
The next seven days
Day
High
Low
Rain
Conditions
TODAY
89°
68°
10%
Mostly Sunny
THU
81°
61°
10%
Partly Sunny
FRI
83°
59°
0%
Sunny
SAT
85°
59°
0%
Sunny
SUN
87°
60°
3%
Mostly Sunny
MON
88°
62°
17%
Mostly Sunny then Slight Chance Rain Showers
TUE
90°
65°
4%
Sunny
Written by the CNAW 2 weather desk from CNAW 2 weather desk data. Last updated September 23, 2026 at 6:15 PM Eastern. Covering Columbus and Phenix City, Auburn–Opelika, LaGrange, Eufaula and the rest of the 19-county CNAW viewing area.
