The cold front that set off a round of severe storms blamed for one death in Georgia will bring much chillier weather to metro Atlanta Thursday and a return to near-freezing temperatures by early Friday.
Channel 2 Action News meteorologist Karen Minton said afternoon highs Thursday will only reach the mid-50s, about 10 degrees below normal for the date and some 20 degrees cooler than Wednesday's high of 75. Overnight, Minton says to expect lows in the low 30s.
Friday will be sunny but unseasonably cold, with temperatures again only reaching the mid-50s before falling into the mid-30s Friday night. The weekend will be sunny and a little warmer, with highs in the low 60s on Saturday and mid-60s on Sunday and lows in the 40s.
The severe storms that developed ahead of the cold front Wednesday afternoon brought heavy rain and winds blamed for one death.
In southern Forsyth County, 51-year-old Kevin Neenan of Suwanee died shortly after 2 p.m. when a tree landed on the SUV he was driving, crushing the cab, police said.
A large pine tree smashed the 2008 GMC Yukon, which was traveling north on Brookwood Road, approximately 500 feet from the intersection of McGinnis Ferry Road, Investigator Ron Tomblin of the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office said. Neenan was trapped and was pronounced dead at the scene, he said.
One of the hardest-hit areas in the state was Harris County, north of Columbus. Officials in Harris County reported numerous trees down and some roofs torn off of buildings. The National Weather Service reported "widespread" damage in the town of Hamilton, including damage to Harris County High School. There were also reports of injuries in the county from storms that moved into Georgia after spawning possible tornadoes in Auburn, Ala.
Channel 2 reported that the storms tore the roof off the high school's auditorium, destroyed the football concession stand and tore apart the baseball complex. The storms also blew the roof off the county 911 center, and Meriwether County is reportedly sending backup 911 equipment, Channel 2 said.
A couple thousand Georgia Power customers across the state lost electricity during Wednesday's storms, but a spokeswoman for the utility told the AJC that service had been restored to all but 130 of those customers by 6:30 a.m. Thursday.
Staff writer Alexis Stevens contributed to this article.
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