Freezing temperatures may be a nuisance here in Atlanta, but Winter Storm Grayson is having much more of an impact in other parts of the state, where thousands in southeast Georgia are without power and north Georgia finds itself under a hazardous weather outlook and wind-chill advisory from the National Weather Service.
It was reported that as of Thursday, over 15,000 Georgians statewide were without power, with 9,000 of those reported as Georgia Power customers. Georgia EMC reported another 5,000 incidents of its own.
#winterstormgrayson Update: At this time roughly 9K customers are without power, with 272 cases of trouble. We continue to bring in additional resources from other areas to help our coastal crews in the hardest hit areas. We will provide updates as restoration progresses.
— Georgia Power (@GeorgiaPower) January 4, 2018
The storm brought one of the heaviest one-day snowfalls on record to wide swathes of south Georgia and parts of north Florida, with icy weather conditions closing roads and schools. Lowndes County Sheriff Ashley Paulk said there were 15 to 20 wrecks before noon on Wednesday on I-75 alone.
With no additional precipitation in the forecast though, conditions are expected to return to normal over the weekend as Governor Nathan Deal’s state of emergency for the region, declared on Tuesday, expires tonight at midnight.
Meanwhile in north Georgia, a part of the state much more accustomed to winter weather, a cold blast has residents on alert. The National Weather Service on Wednesday issued a a hazardous weather outlook and wind-chill advisory as wind chills as low as 7 degrees below zero are possible. That advisory is in effect until 10:00 AM today.
Atlanta should escape any dangerous conditions, (other than bone chilling cold) until Monday, when an 80% chance of rain could turn roads icy as thousands of football fans, including President Donald Trump, stream into the city for the college football national championship between UGA and Alabama. MARTA has already increased its schedule, but with so many visitors coming in from out of town an ice storm has the potential for disaster.
That is unless the Bulldogs pull off a victory, in which case a snow day would turn into the biggest victory party the state has ever seen. It’s all a matter of perspective really.
