Atlanta snow fun for some

It may not stick, but for many in Atlanta Sunday’s snow was quite a sight to behold — and to enjoy.

At Centennial Olympic Park, Taylor West, 11, and his younger brother, Tucker, 7, tossed snowballs at each other near the fountain. Their dad, Gary, became a target, too.

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Eric Stirgus / estirgus@ajc.com

Tucker West, 7, of Mobile, Ala., hurls a snowball at his father, Gary, on Sunday at Centennial Olympic Park. They were on a family vacation with Gary’s wife, Mindy, and their two other children, Taylor, 11, and Maddie, 5. The two younger children had never seen snow before.

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Eric Stirgus / estirgus@ajc.com

Natalie Merrill, 22, takes pictures of the snow in Centennial Olympic Park as her husband, True, 22, covers her with an umbrella. The couple lives in Midtown and decided to drive to several promient Atlanta landmarks and photograph the snow.

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“You’re dead meat,” said Gary, after getting plucked by Taylor.

Tucker and his 5-year-old sister, Maddie, had never seen snow before. The family, from Mobile, Ala., was in Atlanta for a week-long vacation. Gary and his wife, Mindy, decided to stay an extra day because they didn’t want to drive back in the bad weather.

That was just fine with the kids.

“Now, this is snow,” Taylor said.

Atlanta native Emma Godwin stared in sheer amazement at the heavy white flakes that fell from the sky. She whipped out her cell phone and took pictures during a quick break from work at the FountainSide Café.

“It’s nice,” Godwin said, unable to remember the last time she saw such snow in the city. “But I didn’t think it was going to be this much.”

Godwin then wondered what her drive home to Conyers would be like.

“I’ve got to figure out a way to get home in this,” she said.

Godwin wasn’t the only person chronicling the unusual March weather. Midtown resident Natalie Merrill and her husband, True, drove around the city Sunday morning taking pictures of the snow at various Atlanta landmarks: Piedmont Park, Margaret Mitchell House and Centennial Olympic Park.

“This is the first time I’ve seen weather like this in four years,” said Natalie, 22, who snapped photos as her husband held the umbrella. “We were like, ‘Let’s go out and get some pictures of this.’ “

Sunday was the last day at Stone Mountain Park for Snow Mountain — a mound of manmade snow. But the atraction was closed because of the hard rain that hit metro Atlanta on Friday. General Store worker Dorothy Goode chuckled at the irony.

Visitors still got their wish to play in the snow because of the real snow. Many of them were children from Florida and the snow was a first-in-a-lifetime experience. Despite their unfamiliarity with snow, the art of making snowballs and throwing them at each other came pretty easily.

“They are fascinated by it,” said Goode, 69, a native of West Virginia. “It is so beautiful.”

Did she plan to play in the snow?

“Nooo,” Goode said. “I have to work.”