Hall County's rainfall deficit for the year may be wiped out if projections for Tropical Storm Lee pan out as predicted.

"It's going to be really wet the first part of the week," said forecaster Robert Beasley of the National Weather Service office in Peachtree City.

The NWS is predicting up to 7 inches of rain for Northeast Georgia through Tuesday.

The agency has placed Hall and surrounding counties under a flash flood watch through Tuesday morning.

"We'll be getting persistent bands of rain," Beasley said, with some periods of heavy precipitation today until around noon Tuesday.

The weather system could spawn tornadoes and thunderstorms as it moves into Georgia from Alabama, he said.

Lee is moving from the Gulf of Mexico, bringing widespread showers across the Deep South.

Northeast Georgia could be among the hardest hit areas.

Rainfall projections for the rest of Georgia range from 3-5 inches in central Georgia and 1-3 inches in South Georgia. Rainfall amounts could be higher in certain areas, the Weather Service warns.

The rain would help raise falling lake levels throughout the Southeast and otherwise bring relief to the drought-stricken region. Hall County is in moderate to severe drought, while most of Georgia is in extreme drought.

Lake Lanier stands at 1,064.32 feet above sea level, or just shy of 7 feet below the normal full pool of 1,071 feet.

Beasley said the "best news of all" is the string of 90-degree days has come to an end with highs predicted to be in the mid- to upper-70s and lows in the mid- to upper-60s. There are no 90-degree days predicted for the next seven days, he added.