Snow, Ice And Sleet Expected As Temperatures Plummet

The National Weather Service has issued a winter weather advisory for parts of north Georgia, including the metro Atlanta area that predicts snow and ice accumulation.

The service says possibly 1 inch of snow and 0.1 inch of ice will accumulate possibly Friday afternoon through Saturday. The snow may turn into sleet and then freezing rain overnight into early Saturday.

They advise motorists to proceed with caution while driving as roads will be slippery and visibility will be limited.

The ice and light snow from this week's winter storm has hampered the efforts of utility crews trying to restore electricity to homes.

While Georgia Power noted on its website that all storm related outages have been resolved, Georgia's electric membership cooperatives are still struggling to bring service back online.

As of 5 p.m. Thursday, more than 12,000 customers were still without electricity, according to the company's website.

Meanwhile, the temperature plunged to 6 degrees in Blairsville before dawn Thursday as a new storm approached. A U.S. Forest Service weather station near Brasstown Bald, Georgia's highest peak, showed the air temperature there was 1 degree early Thursday.

Forecasters have issued a winter storm watch from 1 p.m. Friday to 1 p.m. Saturday from Rome and Gainesville north. Precipitation will start as snow, then change to sleet and freezing rain in those areas.

Tags: winter weather, georgia storm, ice storm, snow storm, ice, power outages, power outages during winter weather