Major Snow Storm Hits Northeast Georgia

It was the biggest snowfall our area has seen in years.

A winter storm passed over Northeast Georgia, the Upstate, and western Carolinas Sunday bringing with it up to 4” of snow in many areas, making icy roads treacherous and causing thousands of homes to lose power.

Sleet, snow, and freezing rain began falling overnight and by 7a Sunday morning, the Georgia State Patrol and local law enforcement reported multiple accidents and downed trees.

By 8a Franklin County Sheriff Steve Thomas was warning citizens to stay off the roads.

“The roads in Franklin County are very dangerous. It is our request at the time that you stay off the roads. The Georgia DOT is working to add a mixture to try and help with this ice and snow. We have been working many vehicle crashes due to this ice and snow and the drivers’ manner of driving during this time. We don’t want you to be the next one. For public safety, please stay home,” he said.

The biggest issue for most people, however, was the loss of power.

At the height of the storm, Hart EMC was reporting over 2500 outages in their service area – about 1300 of those in Toccoa-Stephens County in the Whispering Pines area where some 857 customers were without power.

And while the storm is out of here and sunny skies are expected today, highs are still expected to be colder than normal, only in the upper 30’s to 40.

Meteorologist Doug Oldham with the National Weather Service said that could still be enough, combined with the sunshine to start the white stuff to melt.

“There should be a good amount of sunshine (Monday) and where the sun shines that is going to assist in melting any remaining ice,” he said. “The high temperature is going to be between 39-40 degrees. However, in shady areas that don’t get much sun there will still be a good amount of snow,” he said.

Oldham said temperatures will get down to about 27 tonight.  That means any wet sections of roads could refreeze overnight causing black ice to form by Tuesday morning.

The good news for today however is that it is Martin Luther King Jr day so schools, banks, and many businesses are closed today for the national holiday.

However, Sheriff Thomas and local law enforcement still advise motorists who do have to get to work today to use caution as the roads could remain icy and slippery throughout the day.