A strong and quick-moving cold front will be moving through the region Sunday night through Monday night, bringing the chance of severe weather ahead of the front and along the line of storms. There is some indication in the models that severe weather could occur well out ahead of the front in places like NE Georgia as well as along the line. After the front passes, cold air will pour into the region from the NW, dropping temperatures throughout the day on Monday after the front passes. Some areas could see snow flurries or even some snow in more northern locations and higher elevations.
By Tuesday morning, freezing temperatures could reach all the way through Alabama and Georgia but probably won’t reach far into Florida. The wind on Tuesday morning will still be strong, so using irrigation for freeze protection could be difficult. Blueberry areas in SE Georgia will only get down to about 32 F, though, so they might be OK. But keep checking the forecast because there could be variations in the minimum temperature up or down. (Alabama folks, you can see the graphical forecasts for your whole state at https://graphical.weather.gov/sectors/sectorDay.php?sector=alabama&view=public&expand=false#tabs, just use the menu on the left to pick the correct date and low temperature map.)
By Wednesday morning, the skies will clear out and the winds will be light, resulting in radiational cooling that will result in a second night of freezing conditions in the same areas. A classic couplet of advection freeze the first night followed by radiation freeze the second night! Since peaches are blooming all the way into NE Georgia, I expect to see damage to the peach crop from the low temperatures, especially since they are likely to last for several hours. We can hope that it won’t be as cold as predicted. The graph at the bottom is the hourly temperature graph for Fort Valley, GA, in Peach County just south of Macon. It shows temperatures below 32 F for several hours but since the lowest temperature there is expected to be just 30 F, they may not experience the worst case. You can get the hourly forecast for your location using the instructions at https://site.extension.uga.edu/climate/2018/03/where-to-get-hourly-weather-forecast-information/.
After the cold blast, temperatures should warm up again pretty quickly into the 70s by Friday. The long-range models are not showing another freeze event through the end of March except in high elevations, but freezes have come in April in the past so we cannot completely rule out another cold spell yet.
