Metro Atlanta sees coldest morning in almost a decade

“It is going to stay bitterly cold right on into the evening,” Deon said of metro Atlanta and North Georgia. “If you don’t have to get out, probably best to stay inside where it’s nice and warm.”

Credit: Steve Schaefer

Credit: Steve Schaefer

The National Weather Service issued a wind chill advisory through Saturday afternoon for much of North Georgia, with the exception of the mountains of northeast Georgia, which are under a wind chill warning. The wind will cause it to feel as cold as 9 degrees below zero in areas under the advisory, and minus 25 degrees in higher elevations.

“The cold wind chills could result in hypothermia and/or frostbite if precautions are not taken,” according to the NWS.

Overnight lows on Saturday are expected to sink to 16 degrees, with a cold start expected for Christmas morning, Deon said.

“It will still be dry, and our temperatures will start to moderate just a bit but still running well below normal,” she said.

The high on Christmas Day is expected to reach 34 degrees. Forecasters are expecting temperatures will begin to moderate early next week.

Heavy wind gusts early Friday brought down trees around the metro area, causing isolated power outages that added up to affect tens of thousands of residents.

Georgia Power’s outage map showed hundreds of customers were affected by outages scattered across metro Atlanta and North Georgia Saturday morning. The company reported that more than 250,000 of its customers had power restored since Friday’s arrival of the arctic blast in the state.

Georgia EMCs reported thousands of customers affected by outages as of Saturday morning. Meanwhile, some utilities in North Georgia carried out rolling blackouts early Saturday to reduce power usage, following a Tennessee Valley Association directive to stabilize its strained grid. TVA announced around midday Saturday that it had ended the rolling blackouts.

Despite the frigid weather, operations at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport were running smoothly on Saturday morning, according to spokesman Andy Gobeil. The airport’s main security checkpoint had a six-minute wait as of midday.

“The biggest challenge is the same as yesterday: the cold weather for all of the employees who are working outside,” Gobeil said. “So we’re making sure that they have their cold weather gear. We’re making sure that they’re allowed to head on inside and warm up after certain periods of time to make sure they’re taken care of.”

A Transportation Security Administration spokesman said its security officers screened slightly more than 71,000 passengers on Friday, down about 15,000 from a week earlier.

In response to the inhospitable weather, the city of Atlanta and many parts of the metro area opened warming centers for those unable to shelter from the cold. They were found in Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Douglas, Gwinnett and Hall counties, as well as East Point.

Gov. Brian Kemp announced a state of emergency Thursday that loosened restrictions on propane carriers and allowed state parks to open warming centers for those who may lose power or motorists stranded in the cold.

Many attractions around metro Atlanta are shut down in the face of the arctic front, including Six Flags Over Georgia, Zoo Atlanta and parts of Stone Mountain Park.

The good news? Temps are supposed to rebound next week, with projected highs in the 60s by Friday and unseasonably warm weather for the New Year’s holiday weekend.

Credit: Channel 2 Action News

Credit: Channel 2 Action News

For a detailed forecast, visit The Atlanta Journal-Constitution weather page.

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