North Georgia’s weekend snow chances have dwindled a bit, but there is still hope for a winter wonderland in some parts of the state.
It’s a quickly changing forecast, and projections called for a mix of light rain and snow in northeast Georgia during Saturday’s predawn hours. Friday evening weather models show there is potential for up to a half-inch of snowfall atop the tallest mountains.
Metro Atlanta will probably miss out on the snowy winter spectacle, but the weekend will still be very cold. Lows are expected to plunge into the 20s with highs in the low 50s Saturday and barely break the 40-degree mark Sunday.
The state’s best chance for snow comes overnight Saturday into Sunday and along a diagonal line from Columbus to Griffin to Madison, according to the National Weather Service’s 3 p.m. Friday forecast. Some areas there could see anywhere from a half-inch to 1 ½ inches of snowfall.
“It’s still a really volatile situation,” NWS senior meteorologist Dylan Lusk told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in a Friday afternoon phone interview. But “if things were to come together just right,” he said, some lucky areas south of Macon could see even up to three inches of accumulation.
However, “this is a statistically unlikely scenario,” the Weather Service cautioned in its forecast.
“It’s very possible that this ends up being, for a lot of folks, a very cold rain or something like that,” Lusk said. “But we do think there will be some snow somewhere at this point.”
Who gets snow Sunday depends on the track of Gulf Coast moisture that is expected to filter northeastward at the same time that Arctic air will dip south, Channel 2 Action News meteorologist Ashley Kramlich said.
The timing for potential snow is also tough to pinpoint.
“It still looks like it could start ... Saturday night, basically into Sunday morning, but it could continue into the afternoon, especially in parts of eastern Georgia,” Lusk said.
Any snow should stop before it reaches metro Atlanta. If they’re lucky, only far southeastern metro locations could get a few flurries, Kramlich said.
Regardless of where the snow falls or when, the Georgia Department of Transportation said it is closely monitoring forecasts for icy road conditions.
“GDOT crews are prepared to mobilize more focused regional pretreatment and response efforts should the need arise,” spokesperson Natalie Dale said in a statement. “A focused activation and treatment plan can be mobilized and executed quickly as conditions warrant.”
Residents, especially those in central and South Georgia, should monitor the forecast for the next several days, said the Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency in a social media post. The agency noted the potential for black ice to form on roads through late Monday morning as snow melts and refreezes.
Once the cold waves move out, metro Atlanta temps are expected to stay in the 40-degree range at least for the first half of next week with lows staying in the 20s and 30s.
Slightly warmer conditions could return by late next week, with Thursday’s projected high in the upper 50s.
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