Although it’s plenty cold out this week, it’s highly unlikely we’ll be getting a white Christmas in Atlanta this year. It would probably be a shock if we did — this time last year, people were blasting the AC during holiday season due to record high temperatures.
But it wasn’t always that way. In fact, twelve years ago, the metro area saw its first white Christmas since the 1880s. Today, the Photo Vault takes a short trip back in time to the last time Jack Frost truly nipped at our noses during yuletide.
Back in 2010, a National Weather Service report showed that a strong storm system was moving across the Southeast on Christmas Day.
Precipitation began on Christmas Eve, quickly changing from rain to snow across extreme north Georgia, where six to eight inches of snow were reported. Here in the metro, people reported one to three inches — the first measurable snow on Christmas Day since 1882. As the system slowly moved east, snow continued the next day resulting in additional accumulations across east central Georgia.
Very cold temperatures moved in behind the system and any moisture on the roads froze overnight Christmas night, causing significant road problems. Strong winds, at times gusting to between 25 and 35 mph, also spread across the area on Dec. 26. With high temperatures across most of north Georgia still below freezing, wind chills in the single digits were recorded throughout the day. Flurries and light snow continued as the storm system moved up the East Coast.
The Christmas Day snow may have seemed magical and romantic, but by the third day, the holiday glow had worn thin. Unaccustomed to the slippery white stuff, metro Atlantans turned their attention to the messy travel conditions following the precipitation.
With temperatures dropping into the mid-20s, drivers were cautioned to look out for ice on the roadways through the next morning, which happened to be a Monday. Transportation crews were on metro highways starting 5:30 p.m. Saturday to look for trouble spots and spread a salt-sand mix where needed.
Of course, the holiday snowfall complicated travel at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. A Delta Air Lines spokesman told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution at the time that there were 500 weather-related flight cancellations nationwide that Saturday — including 300 of the 800 scheduled departures from the Atlanta hub.
On the positive side, the snowfall that began Saturday morning transformed metro Atlanta into a once-in-a-century holiday postcard that fulfilled people’s dreams of a white Christmas. The last time the area had a measurable snowfall on Christmas Day was 128 years was, when 0.3 inch fell.
Many took advantage of the oddity with walks through falling snow, by building snowmen, and of course with snowball fights. It’s not every year that Atlanta transforms into a winter wonderland.
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