The bone-chilling start to the work week has persisted into Tuesday as the season’s first shot of Arctic air kept morning temperatures in the freezing range.
Metro Atlantans woke up to another hard freeze with lows in many areas reaching the 20-degree range before an expected climb back into the upper 40s by the afternoon. The reading at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, for example, was just 28 degrees early Tuesday morning, but it rose nearly 10 degrees by 10 a.m., when a freeze warning ended, according to the National Weather Service.
A winter weather advisory, which had been in effect overnight across portions of the state’s northern half, expired earlier at 7 a.m., the Weather Service said.
No snow is in the forecast, and sunny skies are expected throughout the day.
The wind also shouldn’t be quite as fearsome as Monday, when a few flurries dotted the skies before instantly melting in northern parts of metro Atlanta.
Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez
Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez
The cold front brought more snow to North Georgia on Monday, even prompting Fannin County Schools to release students early and other northern districts to delay or close Tuesday.
The big freeze is part of a system that brought more significant snowfall to the Great Lakes region and even sent a chill through Florida.
In metro Atlanta on Monday, the Arctic wind was so strong you could “hear the cold coming in,” Channel 2 Action News meteorologist Brian Monahan said. Those 25-30 mph gusts made the air feel more like the 20s and even the teens in northern Georgia’s highest elevations, “the spine of the Appalachians,” Monahan said.
Temps at Hartsfield-Jackson didn’t quite make it to freezing. The lowest reading there was 35 degrees just before 8 a.m.
The cold has prompted local governments to open warming centers, including in Atlanta and its surrounding counties — such as Gwinnett, Cobb and DeKalb.
The good news is, behind this Arctic wall of icy air, warmer weather is on the horizon. Temperatures near the city are expected to soar back into the low 70s during the second half of the week.
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