Georgia seems to have survived this week’s first blast of winter in reasonable shape, but it’s no time to get cocky. Worse weather may be coming.
Channel 2 Action News chief meteorologist Glenn Burns said Wednesday night that new weather model data shows a rain/snow/sleet mix coming Friday night that will reach metro Atlanta’s northern suburbs. There may be some sleet in Atlanta as well.
That piece of bad news comes during a weather week that’s already provided plenty of problems, even if the dreaded black ice didn’t strike the metro area as was feared.
Still, the ice that accumulated on trees, plus fierce winds downed trees and led to a massive number of power outages that still haven’t been fixed.
Georgia Power reported that as of 10 p.m. Wednesday, there were 181 outages affecting 2,760 customers.
As of 8 p.m., 31,000 Georgia Electric Membership Corp. customers remained without power, down from 134,000 at the height of the storm.
Channel 2 meteorologist Brad Nitz noted that while winds of 20 to 25 miles per hour were sustaining, there were gusts to 35 miles per hour.
Wednesday’s winds brought with them some blowing snow flurries that passed through the metro area during the daylight hours, delighting some of those inside who could sit and watch.
The snow wasn’t just for show everywhere in Georgia, however.
In north Georgia, the National Weather Service issued a winter weather advisory calling for the possibility of up to an inch of snow north of a line from Summerville to Ellijay to Cleveland.
It is sheer cold that will be a bigger issue for most metro Atlanta residents over the next couple of days, though.
Burns tweeted: “Our coldest Atlanta temp this winter was 11 on Jan 8th. Tomorrow morning, 16 for ATL. Wind chill -5 to 5 tomorrow morning.”
A wind chill advisory is in effect for much of the state from 7 p.m. Wednesday through noon Thursday.
The Georgia Emergency Management Agency said that since Gov. Nathan Deal has extended the state of emergency until Thursday midnight for some hard-hit counties, the agency will be open until then.
Channel 2 meteorologist Karen Minton said temperatures will plummet to near record lows by Thursday morning.
“We’re going down to the teens, below zero in the mountains,” Minton said. “This is dangerous cold. It’s brutal and it’s dangerous to be out there.”
Highs Thursday will be some 30 degrees colder than normal, only reaching the mid- to upper 20s, she said.
Minton said lows Friday morning will again be in the mid-teens, with afternoon highs around 37 degrees. The chance of precipitation late in the day Friday is 30 percent, she said.
Any precipitation should change over to all rain on Saturday, and continue into Sunday, Minton said.
Highs Saturday will be around 50 degrees after morning lows in the low 30s.
The warming trend will continue Sunday, when highs in the upper 50s will follow morning lows in the mid-40s.
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