Access Atlanta > The Newcomer > Archives > 2008 > October > 30 > Entry
Brrr…
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I had this twisted mental vision that I’d moved to a place where its 70 and sunny always, except for a few steamy summer months.
Wrong.
Wrong, wrong, wrong.
I know I’m not the only one digging in to the AJC’s supply of hot chocolate. This is cold.
The good news: I just talked to the National Weather Service, and they said all the things I wanted to hear.
This cold? This 30-degree-trudge-to-work-through-bike-blowing-gusts cold?Not normal! At least not for now.
Meteorologist Brian Lynn told me this is much closer to what you experience in a Georgia January, and by the end of the week, we’ll see highs back in the 60s.
And the better news: January is our coldest month, so this is just about as cold as it gets!
Sure, Lynn admits, it’s not impossible to get some of those record-breaking single-digit chills here. He moved to Georgia (from Alaska!) in 1989, and has witnessed it a few times, but it’s not the norm.
I grew up in Michigan — I don’t even know want to know where their thermostats are right now — but I’ve lost the rectitude required for cold temperatures.
But wow, am I glad I didn’t toss all those sweaters.
What are your winter memories in Georgia? How cold does it get?
And if you’re new here and wondering what other weather to expect, well, check out posts on hurricane, drought, smog and — yes, something nice — fall.
Permalink | Comments (4) | Post your comment | Categories: Weather
Comments
By Kris
October 30, 2008 9:30 AM | Link to this
I moved to Atlanta from the DC area, where until that point I had lived my entire life, in 2002. I didn’t know much about Atlanta’s climate but I had this mental image of Cabbage Palmettos, Live Oaks and Spanish Moss. What I found was a low of 9 degrees one night during my first winter here. It’s definitely not as cold as DC but it’s certainly no Savannah. Although we do have some Live Oaks and if your careful, you might spot a few Cabbage Palmettos here and there. I’m a palm tree enthusiast and I do have a Pindo Palm planted in my front yard. I couldn’t do that in DC.
By Jamie Gumbrecht
October 30, 2008 10:13 AM | Link to this
Nice work, Kris! It’s funny: as a kid in Michigan, I remember going to visit cousins in Ohio in early Spring. I truly believed that any place South of where I lived would be near tropical, or at very least, pool weather. OK, so it wasn’t exactly sweltering, but in my child mind, it was preeeetty great.
By Mr. Grits
October 30, 2008 5:15 PM | Link to this
Jamie, this will make you chuckle. I was living in Augusta, Ga., in 1993 when we had a freaky March snowstorm that dumped 5 inches in one day! And Atlanta, being at a higher altitude, got even more, like maybe 8 inches. Anyway, that day is still known throughout the area as The Blizzard of ‘93!
By Native
October 31, 2008 11:39 AM | Link to this
I have a picture of my outdoor thermometer that was taken on Christmas Day 1983. It is reading zero. The duck pond near my house froze solid. I was still skating on it a week later. Make no mistake, it can get really cold here.