THE ORIGIN – An Arctic airmass was entrenched across the eastern U.S. during mid-January, as an area of low pressure developed over the northern coast of the Gulf and pushed eastward, moisture spread northward into the lingering cold airmass beginning during the early morning hours of January 10.
THE RESULT – Temperatures throughout the atmospheric column were initially cold enough for snow across north Georgia on the morning of the 10th. However, warm air advection aloft led to a changeover to mostly freezing rain across most of north Georgia by the afternoon and evening hours. By the time the precipitation ended, several inches of snow (up to two inches in Gainesville) as well as one-tenth to one-third of an inch of freezing rain had accumulated across most of north Georgia.
As a warm nose aloft built northward, morning snow began to transition to freezing rain across most of north Georgia by the afternoon hours. Light to moderate freezing rain then occurred through the evening, leading to widespread ice accumulations of 1/10 to 1/4″ with localized amounts around 1/3″ near Athens and Gainesville.
This glaze of ice fell on top of the earlier accumulated snowfall, leading to icy roadways and travel complications. Additionally, scattered power outages occurred due to the weight of the ice on trees and power lines. At the peak, over 100,000 customers were without power across north Georgia during the night of January 10.
As snowfall began around 2:30 p.m. and continued until the early evening hours, snowfall melted and then quickly refroze on roadways as temperatures were in the mid 20s and road temperatures were below freezing. Due to the arctic air in place, temperatures did not reach above freezing for many areas until Thursday which resulted in icy conditions through at least Thursday morning in most areas. A Special Weather Statement was issued from Wednesday through Thursday to account for these conditions and alert motorists of icy roads.
Click here to see the full report which includes maps that show snow and ice accumulations across north Georgia: January 10, 2025 Winter Storm
Ten days later, another storm struck, with south Georgia among the hardest hit places with most of north escaping this time: January 21, 2025 Winter Storm
Snowfall
A wide area of 1-3″ of snow fell across north Georgia, with localized areas receiving as much as 4 to 6″ of snowfall. Most of the snow fell during the first half of the day on Friday, January 10th. By the afternoon, a warm nose aloft had caused precipitation to mostly transition to freezing rain.
One of the areas with the heaviest snow totals was near the I-20 corridor across metro Atlanta where an initial band of heavy snowfall occurred Friday morning and dropped heavy snowfall.
Map of Snow Totals in Georgia