If Lake Lanier’s level creeps up at all this week, the credit would belong to regular summer thunderstorm activity and not any kind of storm system coming from the tropics.

The latest models show that Hurricane Ike doesn’t pose a threat to Georgia, aiming instead toward the Gulf Coast.

"The closest we would get is when it finally gets swept up ... and goes flying off into the Northeast," Matt Sena, a forecaster with the National Weather Service in Peachtree City, said on Sunday. "We might get brushed with some of the moisture."

But there’s still hope for Gainesville/Hall County to get some good doses of rain over the next week.

The weather service is calling for a chance of thunderstorms each day.

The bonus is that temperatures should drop by midweek to the low 80s and even high 70s.

"We’ll at least get the afternoon and evening showers and thunderstorms popping up," Sena said. "... It’s not going to be like (Tropical Storm) Fay or anything like that. We’re going to get into more of a summertime pattern."

Northeast Georgia received several inches of rain, and Hall County was struck by three tornadoes, as the remnants of Tropical Storm Fay went through the area two weeks ago.

Fay pushed up the level of Lake Lanier by more than 2 feet, but the lake is still lower than it ever has been at this time of year.

On Thursday, Lake Lanier was at 1,055.63 feet above sea level. The normal full pool is 1,071 feet.