With snow looming in the forecast for Tuesday, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp has preemptively closed state government offices for Tuesday and is telling all non-essential state employees in the region affected by the storm not to report to work.
According to the National Weather Service, rain will begin mixing with and changing into snow across northwest and far north Georgia beginning early Tuesday morning.
Accumulation and current forecast
Some snow accumulations are likely across portions of north Georgia
on Tuesday generally north and west of I-85 as a cold front pushes
through. The likelihood and any impacts from the snow appear to be
greater across northwest and far north Georgia. Some uncertainty
continues regarding amounts of snow accumulations and how far south and east the threat may extend, however an inch or more of
accumulation is possible across the northwest and far north, with
over 2 inches possible in the higher elevations of the north Georgia
Mountains.
Major Metro Area School Systems Already Closing
Shortly after Kemp’s announcement, two major school systems announced they would not be open Tuesday. Fulton County Schools and Atlanta Public Schools will both be closed Tuesday and have already made that decision.
Memories of Snowpocalypse
If closures before a single snowflake has fallen seem odd, keep in mind that today marks 5 years since an unexpected ice storm later dubbed Snowpocalypse hit metro Atlanta.
During that storm, former Gov. Nathan Deal was strongly criticized for waiting too long to close government offices. It is estimated that all of the school systems and government employees getting on the roads at the same time workers were trying to get home caused a traffic jam that kept many Atlantans stuck on the roadways for several hours.
That snow storm was expected to hit around 4 p.m., but snow actually started showing up before noon.
GDOT is ready
The Georgia Department of Transportation says it has already begun the process of treating the roads in preparation for winter weather.
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