Temperatures in the 30s, wind chills in the 20s, and a few snow flakes blowing around. Welcome to springtime in Atlanta.
The strong cold front that brought rain to metro Atlanta on Sunday ushered in another round of unseasonably cold weather for the first Monday of spring.
Temperatures before daybreak were mostly in the mid- to upper 30s, but winds gusting to near 40 mph dropped the wind chill to the upper 20s. A wind advisory was in effect for most of Georgia until 6 p.m. Monday.
Snow flurries were reported before daybreak Monday in Marietta, Hiram, Dahlonega, Cornelia and Blue Ridge, with light flurries continuing on and off for much of the day and into the evening across the mountain counties. Snow flurries were reported along metro Atlanta’s northern Perimeter early in the evening.
Channel 2 Action News meteorologist Karen Minton said temperatures would continue to drop to near the freezing mark by mid-morning Monday, then climb only into the mid-40s before dropping back to around 30 Monday night.
Tuesday will again be cold, with highs around 46 degrees and lows Tuesday night around 31, Minton said.
Afternoon readings should be in the mid-50s on Wednesday and near 60 degrees Thursday, but morning lows will still be in the 30s.
Atlanta’s normal high for late March is 67, the normal low 46.
While the normal date for Atlanta’s last freeze of the season is March 23, the city has recorded freezing temperatures as late as April 25, in 1910.
The weekend rain pushed Atlanta’s rainfall total for the year to 16.46 inches, a surplus of 3.8 inches.
Between the weekend rain and the high winds, trees came toppling down in several areas of metro Atlanta.
West of Piedmont on 13th Street, a huge tree fell, crushing a truck and part of an abandoned apartment complex shortly after noon Sunday. No injuries were reported.
Chris Lee, in whose yard the tree once stood, said his dog “saved me” when the tree came down on Sunday.
“I was walking my dog and I heard a crackling noise, and the door was open so my dog ran back in the house,” Lee told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Lee said he turned and followed his dog just as the tree came crashing down. “As I turned around, the tree went that way,” he said.
In south Fulton, crews chopped down and removed a tree that blocked traffic on a busy road. Campbellton Road was closed near Camp Creek Parkway, so crews could clear all the debris. The tree also fell on power lines.
Power crews restored service to neighbors in that area around 11 a.m. Sunday.
In Cobb County, crews were working to restore power Monday morning after a tree brought down utility lines off Mabry Road.
Staff writer Helena Oliviera and photographer John Spink contributed to this article.
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