Calling it a “dangerous cold,” the National Weather Service (NWS) issued a new alert overnight as the coldest weather of the season, and coldest since Christmas weekend 2022, continues its southward march.
Forecasters have now issued a Wind Chill Advisory for most of north and central Georgia – along and north of a line from Columbus to Macon to August – from 5:00 this afternoon through 10:00 tomorrow morning for readings from +5 to -9.
After the Winter Weather Advisory was expanded again late yesterday to add several counties on the northern and western fringes of metro Atlanta as well as some bordering Hall County – Forsyth, Lumpkin, White and Dawson – several north Georgia school systems announced they would be closed today… Lumpkin, White, and Dawson among them. The reasoning was that the overnight forecasts for those areas included a chance of sleet and freezing rain.
The Gainesville area forecast calls for periods of rain this morning, possibly some freezing precipitation, and temperatures in the 30s all day – falling to the upper 20s by 5:00 this afternoon. The NWS says the overnight low will be 17.