Middle, South Georgia bracing for rare snowstorm
Published 12:08 pm Tuesday, January 21, 2025
- Over the past 48 hours, ahead of the storm’s arrival, Georgia DOT crews have been busy applying brine to Georgia’s interstates, priority state routes, bridges and overpasses. As of Tuesday morning, Georgia DOT crews had treated more than 43,000 lane miles of Georgia interstates, state routes, bridges and overpasses with more than 1.7 million gallons of brine, a salt and water mixture that helps keep ice from bonding to the surface of the road. (Georgia Department of Transportation photo)
ATLANTA – In a reversal of the usual pattern, the latest winter storm is expected to dump more snow on Middle and South Georgia than the northern half of the state.
A winter storm warning posted for Middle and South Georgia is predicting up to five inches of snow in those regions starting Tuesday afternoon, while metro Atlanta and North Georgia are expected to get no more than two inches, Will Lanxton, a meteorologist with the Georgia Emergency Management Agency (GEMA) told reporters Tuesday morning during a briefing at the State Operations Center in southeast Atlanta.
Georgia Commissioner of Transportation Russell McMurry said DOT crews have shifted some of their 448 snowplows further south to treat roadways with brine after the weather forecast called for the southern half of the state to get more snow and ice than originally anticipated.
“We have done what we can to get ahead of this very large impact,” he said.
The state Capitol complex will be closed both Tuesday and Wednesday, forcing the cancellation of two days of hearings on Gov. Brian Kemp’s budget requests. Schools and universities across the state also were closed on Tuesday.
A statewide state of emergency will be in effect through Jan. 28, which prohibits price gouging, suspends hours-of-service limitations for commercial vehicle operators involved in the storm response, and temporarily increases weight, height, and length limits for commercial vehicles transporting emergency supplies.
McMurry said motorists appear to have learned the lesson of “Snowmageddon,” the snowstorm that paralyzed the metro region in 2014. Traffic in the region was about 20% below normal on Tuesday morning, he said.
Warming stations are open across the state for residents who lose power. A list of locations can be found on GEMA’s website at GEMA.georgia.gov.
GEMA Director Chris Stallings advised motorists to stay off the roads for the next 36 to 48 hours to allow crews to clear the roads.
“Give us space to work,” he said.
With temperatures remaining below or near freezing across Georgia for the next couple of days, any snow that falls is expected to remain on the ground. Wednesday’s forecast calls for a sunshine, with warmer temperatures expected to return Thursday.
