Icy Roads, 9 Inches Of Snow, Power Outages: GA Winter Storm

ATLANTA, GA — Georgia roads may continue to be icy through Wednesday afternoon after a winter storm dropped at least four inches of snow in some areas, weather officials told Patch.

A "historic winter storm along the Gulf Coast and Southeast" brought wintry precipitation to Georgia on Tuesday. With this particular system came lots of uncertainties in the weather predictions.

"Snowfall in the South is always difficult (to predict)," Carmen Hernandez, a National Weather Service meteorologist, told Patch. She confirmed this is because snow in the South is unusual.

The storm caused 4-9 inches of snowfall in the central region and a half-inch to an inch of snow in metro Atlanta, she said.

In a rare turn of events, southwest Georgia in and near the Valdosta area was also blanketed with snow.

At least 44,000 people were without power around 10:45 a.m., according to the tracker poweroutage.us. Most of the outages were in Glynn and Camden counties.

Hernandez said the snow began around 2 p.m. in the metro and west central regions, along the interstates 85 and 20 corridors and in the southeast.

Snowfall at the Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport accumulated up to an inch on Tuesday, Hernandez said.

More than 300 flights were delayed, and at least 200 were canceled, at the Atlanta airport. On Wednesday, nearly 500 flights were delayed, more than 300 flights were canceled, according to FlightAware data.

Travelers with Delta Air Lines saw 404 delays and 266 cancelations on Wednesday.

Dry air ended the snowfall at 7 p.m., but not before it wreaked havoc on travel conditions. Hernandez said drivers in Coweta County were stranded on secondary roads.

On Wednesday, Gwinnett County Police reported icy conditions in Snellville, where cars had been abandoned on Mink Livsey Road at Harley Beth Drive.

Lilburn Police also reported stranded cars. Police said Wednesday they were towing the cars to their headquarters at 4600 Lawrenceville Highway.

As of 7:15 a.m., DeKalb County officials said they saved a pregnant woman who on her way to the hospital and had responded to hundreds of 911 calls, including a structure fire. Officials said more than 100 vehicles were stranded in DeKalb.

DeKalb County on Wednesday declared a state of emergency. This is in addition to Gov. Brian Kemp's state of emergency across Georgia.

Residents in DeKalb were asked to shelter in place and stay home.

“This is a serious situation,” DeKalb County CEO Lorraine Cochran-Johnson said in a news release. “We are asking for everyone’s patience and cooperation as our teams work around the clock to ensure public safety. Staying off the roads is critical—not only for your safety but to allow emergency responders to reach those in need.”

At least 500 tons of salt, sand and calcium chloride have been used to treat DeKalb roads, county officials said. Below-freezing temperatures has caused the treatments to become ineffective, they said.

Rockbridge and River roads are among those "severely impacted by ice," county officials said.

Meanwhile, the Georgia Department of Transportation urged drivers to stay off of the roads on Wednesday.

“Georgia DOT asks for the public’s patience right now," GDOT Commissioner Russell McMurry said in a statement. "This is a highly unusual winter weather event impacting nearly three-quarters of the state and our crews cannot be everywhere at once."

Response teams were working to clear snow and ice from roads. Early morning, crews were tending to roads "heavily traveled by emergency vehicles."

Hernandez warned icy conditions could continue until 3 p.m. Wednesday. However, she added dry areas can refreeze and cause additional travel concerns on Thursday.

What's to Come?

Hernandez said temperatures will "thankfully" warm up going into the weekend. She said highs on Saturday will be in the upper 40s to low 50s. The NWS' detailed forecast shows this is also true for Sunday.

Though Georgians may look forward to warmer temperatures, residents may face rain showers after battling snow.

The rain is expected to start Sunday night in metro Atlanta and in the Columbus area. It may not clear out until Monday night, according to the forecast.

As for the chances of more snow, the NWS Climate Prediction Center forecasts above-normal temperatures for February, Hernandez said.

"Fingers crossed for the next couple of weeks," she said.