Good Afternoon,
I wanted to deliver a timely weather update to you all. Please share with others who may need it. I may share more information as the forecast evolves if there is significant information needed to share.
I have compiled some Emergency Resources at this link should you need assistance in food safety, generator usage, as well as rural stress during a natural disaster. To access those resources, CLICK HERE for Emergency Resources.
Pam Knox, UGA Extension Specialist, Director of UGA Weather Network, sent us an update this morning. It reads as follows. Please read through and let me know if you have questions. You should be consulting National Weather Service forecasts for your location and not the apps on your mobile phones, which are often behind in time and do not capture the fine details of winter weather but just put up a generic “snowflake” icon if precip is occurring while the temperature is below 32 F. Forecasts are continuing to evolve, so get updates at regular intervals. The forecasts are going to change over time as new information comes in, especially while we are so far ahead of the storm occurrence.
Here is what we know this morning: A winter storm is going to form and move through the South and Southeast starting on Friday in Texas and going through Sunday night or even Monday morning along the East Coast. There will be both moisture and very cold air in place so wintry precipitation is going to occur somewhere, although areas to the south may only get a cold rain. The type of winter precipitation you get depends on how deep the layer of the cold air is. The models do not agree on the exact path of the low-pressure center, and since the type of weather you get is tied to that location and how much moisture and cold air we get is related to that, the forecast is also uncertain. Rain should start on Thursday but the temperature will be above freezing so it should stay liquid through Friday. By Saturday noon, temperatures in the northern half of Georgia will likely be below freezing and frozen precipitation will start. There could be bursts of snow or sleet or freezing rain mixed in with liquid rain as the cold air moves in. By late in the day on Saturday, freezing rain is expected to start falling in northern GA and could fall all night, accumulating on surfaces, trees, and power lines. By Sunday afternoon the precipitation will start to ease, but the cold air will stay in place and really cold air (think about the possibility of single digits in a good part of Georgia) will remain in place for at least the next week. The biggest impacts from the winter weather are likely to be north of I-20 but anywhere to the fall line and even south of that could see some winter weather, especially if the models trend back to the south, so anyone in at least the northern 3/4 of Georgia should be preparing for the worst. If the storm moves farther north, more of the state may get rain, and if it moves farther south it may be more snow in the northern counties with the freezing rain shifted to central GA. We just don’t know yet.
If the weight of the ice causes widespread power outages, which I think is likely, you could be without power (and maybe heat) for several days since it will take time to restore power everywhere, especially considering how widespread the impacts will be. You know it is serious when I am watching prepper videos on YouTube about how to live for a week without heat in your house. Travel will also be difficult because of the number of trees and powerlines that may be down. Think about Helene in 2024 in southeast GA with the added complication of no heat and dangerous cold or the ice storm in Augusta in 2014 and the loss of power there, which was smaller in scale than this storm is likely to be.
We can hope that the models will turn out to be exaggerating how bad it will be and it will be no worse than a few days’ inconvenience. However, you can hope for the best but must still plan for the worst. Now is the time to get ready for a long period of cold and dark by making sure all your electronics are charged, your gas tank is full, you have batteries and nonperishable groceries that you can eat without the need to cook (peanut butter and jelly sandwiches work well, although they are not my favorite), firewood if you have a working fireplace, and any pet food, animal feed, medicine, fuel for generators, and cash if the power is out for a long time period. Here is a website from GEMA with more information: https://gema.georgia.gov/winter. Here is also a good description of what to do from Heather Kolich in Forsyth County: https://site.extension.uga.edu/forsyth/prepare-for-winter-weather-events/.
Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns.