It was as if Moses parted the skies, diverting Wednesday night's lethal storms around metro Atlanta.
Tornadoes were reported to the east, west, south and north of the city, killing 14 people across the state, but the core of the metro area escaped largely unscathed.
"There's really no explanation," said National Weather Service meteorologist Alex Gibbs. "They could've just as easily hit Atlanta as they did Birmingham, Huntsville and Tuscaloosa. It's just the way the storms set up."
Heat may have been a factor. Channel 2 Action News chief meteorologist Glenn Burns said that when the storms passed through at around 11 p.m. the temperature was a balmy 80 degrees -- a few degrees hotter than any of the hardest-hit areas.
"Hot air rises into the atmosphere and cools," Burns explained. The theory, studied by NASA for years, goes that the air then sinks like a bubble, acting as a repellent to the thunderstorms.
It's also unclear whether the route the storms took into Georgia had a hand in sparing the metro area from serious damage.
The tornado that hit downtown Atlanta in March 2008 traveled from the northwest, an unlikely path, Burns said. Wednesday's storms originated southwest of the city, following the more traditional route.
Burns cautioned NASA has been studying the conditions that affect storm paths for years with no resolution.
"It could just be the luck of the draw," he said.
Three weeks ago, the metro area was hit hard by a path of storms that left more than 400,000 Georgia Power customers without electricity. But a utility spokeswoman said Thursday morning only about 1,500 residents, mostly south of the city, were without power.
Areas northwest and south of Atlanta took the biggest hits. Gov. Nathan Deal has declared a state of emergency in 13 Georgia counties.
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