The second winter storm of 2025 may have passed, but we’re in store for another day or two of ice and slick roads.
The storm dumped several inches of snow in southern cities that haven’t seen something like this in decades, and brought about 1 to 2 inches to parts of metro Atlanta. Some motorists had to abandon cars as they drove home on slick roads Tuesday night, and hazardous conditions remained Wednesday. Tens of thousands of households have no power, many schools remain closed, flights have been delayed and some attractions, such as Zoo Atlanta, are shuttered.
Wednesday temperatures are not expected to climb much above freezing, leaving little opportunity for the snow that froze overnight to melt and dissipate, especially on untreated roads. Several crashes and icy patches have been reported across the state, including on I-75, causing closures, according to the Georgia Department of Transportation.
A crash on the Downtown Connector blocked all southbound lanes near University Avenue at 5 a.m. Icy patches on Ga. 155 at Westridge Parkway had all lanes closed in both directions in Henry County.
“Motorists need to stay off the roads,” GDOT warned. “Road conditions are deteriorating quickly and becoming dangerous to travel, especially parts south and east of I-85 and south of I-20.”
Other areas northwest of metro Atlanta and in North Georgia did not get any snow and roads are clear.
Most of Atlanta’s priority roads were treated overnight, but ice is still “present on many secondary streets,” the city’s Department of Transportation said Wednesday morning.
MARTA bus and streetcar operations will remain on pause to start Wednesday. Those services “will resume during the day as conditions allow,” and rail “may run infrequently based on operator availability,” the transportation authority said.
At Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, more than 230 flights were canceled as of 8 a.m. Wednesday, according to Flight Aware data, representing 8% of departures and 13% of arrivals.
Wait times at the domestic and international security checkpoints have been rising Wednesday morning. The airport is advising passengers to arrive at least three hours before departure, unless otherwise directed by an airline.
Some areas in Middle and South Georgia got more than 6 inches of snow, with Cordele appearing to receive about 9 inches — the most in the state, according to preliminary numbers reported by the National Weather Service. Cordele’s previous record was 3.5 inches in 1973.
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
In downtown Brunswick, excited families ventured outside Wednesday morning to find their coastal town blanketed in a thick layer of ice and snow. Icicles dangled from palm trees and giant oaks as children threw snowballs and slid across the asphalt on skim boards typically used at the beach.
For many, it was their first time experiencing snow.
Whitaker Wills had only ever seen old, frozen snow on a family trip, his mother said. This was his first time actually seeing it fall.
“I really like it,” the 9-year-old said as he played in front of his home. “I like throwing the snowballs.”
Similarly, lifelong Brunswick resident Nichole Fiveash, 25, had only ever seen snow during a sixth grade ski trip.
“I was praying for this last night,” she said. “I’ve never seen this here.”
Jay Cason, who has also spent his whole life in Brunswick, said snow last accumulated here 36 years ago.
“I was their age,” he said, pointing to his children, who are 10 and 13. “This is awesome! It’s really neat.”
In Savannah, sleet and freezing rain closed both of the bridges linking Savannah to its eastside islands, effectively cutting off the 30,000 residents of Wilmington, Whitemarsh, Talahi, Oatland and Tybee islands.
Icy conditions left many roads impassable in neighboring Effingham County, where the emergency management agency warned residents of the dangers of black ice.
Thousands of homes along Georgia’s southern coast were without power Wednesday morning. Georgia Power reports close to 30,000 customers are affected by outages in Brunswick and the Golden Isles. Another 5,000 are without power farther south in Camden County. In Darien, located north of Brunswick, about 2,000 have no electricity.
Many Middle Georgia counties, which received the most snow Tuesday, are warning residents to stay off the roads. The Perry Police Department said on social media that “all interstates in Middle Georgia are closed” including I-16 and I-75, where tractor-trailers appear to be at a standstill.
Credit: Ben Gray for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Credit: Ben Gray for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution
GDOT snowplows hit the roads Tuesday night to begin clearing highways. But the area below I-20, the southern half of the state, has more than 25,000 miles of roadway to cover, even if crews just clear two lanes, Commissioner Russell McMurry said at a news briefing before the storm hit.
“This is just going to take time, and so we’re asking everybody to just, please, give time. That means stay at home. Try to stay off the roadways,” he said. “We have a big territory to cover, and we’ll stay with it until we can finish and make sure it’s safe.”
— Staff writers Rosana Hughes, Adam Van Brimmer, Scott Trubey, David Aaro and Emma Hurt contributed to this article.
