Almost 1.6 inches of rain had fallen in Gainesville since this morning, and more is on the way tomorrow.

The weather service has also issued a flash flood watch for the same area until Thursday morning.

The forecast calls for heavy rain and high winds.

A front moving across the Southeast will push winds across the region that could reach 15 to 25 mph, with gusts of between 30 and 40 mph in the north Georgia mountains.

The Weather Service says showers will develop in west Georgia and spread across north Georgia as the day continues. Heavy rain is expected to continue into the day on Thursday, before tapering off by late Thursday night.

Wednesday’s forecast calls for highs near 60 F in north Georgia to the upper 70s in the southern part of the state and heavy rain.

The combination of usually mild temperatures and unstable weather happens about once this time every year, said Mike Leary, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service office in Peachtree City.

“You get a big influx of Gulf moisture that’s really quite warm,” he said. “That sets up instability in combination with the cold front coming down.”

Temperatures should return to normal for this time of year on Thursday, with overnight lows in the lower 30s in Georgia and the mid 20s by Friday morning, he said.