Friday morning’s bitterly cold temperatures forced the closure of a Henry County elementary school and a driver’s license office in Cobb County, and forecasters warned that after a brief weekend warm-up, metro Atlanta will be back in the deep freeze by the middle of next week.
Henry County’s Austin Road Elementary School was closed Friday because of a ruptured water line inside the school, while in Cobb County, the Georgia Department of Driver Services licensing and testing center on County Services Parkway was closed because of a heating problem.
In extreme north Georgia, school officials in Chattooga, Habersham, Murray, Rabun, Towns and White counties pushed the start of classes back two hours Friday because of the bitter cold.
Metro Atlanta temperatures at 7 a.m. Friday ranged from 9 degrees in Alpharetta, Dunwoody, Cartersville and Dallas and 10 in Marietta and Chamblee to 12 at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport and 13 in Peachtree City, but brisk northwesterly winds pushed the predawn wind chill down to -4 in Chamblee Marietta.
In the mountains, Blairsville and Blue Ridge both reported 3 degrees at 7 a.m.
Afternoon highs Friday will hold in the low 30s, Channel 2 meteorologist Karen Minton said, while lows Friday night will dip to around 20 degrees.
Minton said there’s a chance of a few snow flurries, mainly in the mountains, Saturday as highs climb into the mid-40s.
Sunday should be sunny, with lows in the mid-20s and afternoon highs around 50 degrees.
Minton’s extended forecast calls for highs in the mid-40s Monday but only in the low 30s Tuesday and lows in the low 30s Monday and low 20s Tuesday.
By early Wednesday, temperatures will be back down in the low teens, the National Weather Service predicted.
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