ATLANTA — Severe Weather Team 2 is tracking winter weather moving into the metro Atlanta area.
A winter storm warning has been issued for the northeast Georgia mountains. It went into effect 7 a.m. Monday and lasts until 7 a.m. Tuesday.
Gov. Nathan Deal issued a state of emergency ahead of the approaching weather for 15 Georgia Counties. Those counties include: Catoosa, Dade, Dawson, Fannin, Gilmer, Habersham, Lumpkin, Murray, Pickens, Rabun, Towns, Union, Walker, White and Whitfield.
Severe Weather Team 2 Meteorologist Karen Minton said freezing rain and ice remains the most significant concern for parts of north Georgia.
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"Areas near Gainsville could see impacts of freezing rain and sleet," Minton said.
That warm front will then move up to the metro area by noon Monday and continue to move to the north and to the east.
"The impact for folks in northeast Georgia could be accumulation of a quarter of an inch of ice and some snow. But icing may be a major problem," Minton said.
A squall line with thunderstorms could move into the metro later in the evening around 6 p.m. as the front moves through.
CLOSINGS TUESDAY
Lumpkin, Pickens and White County Schools will be closed Tuesday.
Several metro school districts had already planned to be closed Monday, for Presidents Day.
Students in Marietta, Fulton, Atlanta, Clayton, Gwinnett, Decatur and DeKalb did not have school Monday.
Douglas County schools were also closed for the holiday.
Late Saturday, Cobb County Schools decided to cancel classes on Monday in anticipation of the winter weather.
Sunday afternoon, Floyd County announced they were closing school for Monday. Forsyth County Schools also closed school for school-based staff for Monday. Students already had the day off.
Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed closed all city offices and courts Sunday. Fulton County followed suit and closed all county offices and courts as well.
Deal also directed state agency heads to close state offices in the 15 counties where the state of emergency was issues, as well as on Capitol Hill, with the exception of all essential and emergency personnel.
Channel 2’s Sophia Choi spoke with the emergency management director in Whitfield County, who says the real danger will likely happen, overnight into Tuesday.
“We're within that one of two degrees where we're either going to be feast or famine. And we're really watching the temperature right now. And really concerned about what does fall today, if it's rain, the refreezing tonight after the temperature gets back below freezing,” said EMA director Claude Craig.
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Severe Weather Team 2 is working around the clock to update forecasts and share the latest watches and advisories.
GEMA activates command center
Georgia's Emergency Management Agency activated its command center Sunday and will be working around the clock until the weather passes.
Counties across the state can call the command center and ask for help or notify GEMA of road or school closures.
GEMA says the response for this storm looks a lot different than last year, which it says will better protect Georgia citizens.
Action Officer Valarie Grooms says after last year's winter storm new training has her prepared for anything.
"We stay prepared because we do a lot of training. So we're always prepared and ready for whatever happens," Grooms said.
Grooms will take calls from emergency management directors across the state who will either request services, like more blankets or salt trucks, or notify GEMA of a road or school closure in their area.
Channel 2’s Lori Geary was at the state capital Monday where Governor Nathan Deal was directing state agency heads to close state offices, with the exception of all essential and emergency personnel.
After last year's winter storms, when so many drivers got stranded on the state's highways for several hours, Deal said he's issuing the orders out of an abundance of caution.
"We see the fruits of that now. The better communication, the better monitoring, the better messaging. Getting people informed prior to the event happening," said GEMA Deputy Director Gary Kelley said.
Kelley says this year's response will be quicker, bigger and more efficient than ever before.
"We're getting better," Kelley said. "Whether it's preparing for winter weather, or communicating with our partners in the Homeland Security arena, wherever it may be. We're striving to get better, and we're striving to serve the citizens of Georgia better each and every day."
Road Preparations
Channel 2's Liz Artz was with Georgia Department of Transportation crews Sunday as they refilled their brine trucks and head back out to the streets to treat the roads ahead of Monday's anticipated weather.
"If the temp stays in the 20s we may not have freezing to the roadway," said State Maintenance Engineer Dale Brantley.
Brantley and his crew have been up since dawn Sunday preparing for freezing temperatures.
"We'll be pretreating all metro Atlanta intestates with brine mixture," said Brantley.
Ten tankers headed out Sunday morning with 5,000 gallons of liquid brine. The process continued throughout the day.
Crews expected to spray 200,000 gallons of the salt mixture before Monday morning.
"We treated every lane of 285, every lane of the intestates inside the perimeter, inside 20, 75. Sprayed 85 outside the perimeter. We also sprayed a few truck lanes up to the Tennessee state line," said Natalie Dale with GDOT.
GDOT tells Channel 2's Jodie Fleischer they have brined and salted many of Georgia's roads:
- I-575 to Blairsville
- Ga. 400 north to the end
- I-85 to the South Carolina state line
The city of Atlanta said that the Department of Public Works is working to pre-treat priority roads and bridges until the weather eventually subsides.
“The safety of our residents is our first priority,” said Mayor Kasim Reed. “In preparation of the winter weather approaching, I remind residents to stay home and off the roads during and after the storm, as we work to clear roads and respond to emergencies.”
The city says they have seven brine trucks and 40 sand trucks available to use to help clear city roads.
State officials decided to use the brine mixture to pretreat roads as part of the plan developed after the 2014 snowstorm.
Officials say their biggest concern will be black ice early Tuesday morning.
Once snow or sleet starts to fall the state will dispatch 18 interstate teams. Each includes a salt truck, a HERO unit, Georgia State Patrol escort and an additional DOT vehicle.
Gov. Nathan Deal's office issued the following statement Sunday afternoon:
<em>"Though current modeling shows we'll only have rain in most of metro Atlanta, crews are pretreating roads and highway strike teams are getting ready just in case. GEMA is in constant contact with meteorologists and have been communicating the latest info to school superintendents. Most schools are out tomorrow for President's Day though so that helps if modeling changes and we do have winter weather. The weather service had us at a watch level now but the governor has asked to be informed immediately at any hour if that escalates to a warning."</em>
Flight Delays
The winter weather forced airlines to cancel more than 1,700 flights Sunday, nationwide.
Airlines have cancelled 81 flights into and out of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport due to weather.
Stay Informed
Severe Weather Team 2 Meteorologists are always on, giving you minute-by-minute updates on social media.
Follow us on Twitter and follow Severe Weather Team 2 Meteorologists: Glenn Burns, Brad Nitz, Karen Minton, Katie Walls, Brian Monahan.
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Don't forget about Monday's commute – The Triple Team Traffic app will steer you clear of icy roads and rain-related backups.
Watch Channel 2 Action News to bring you the very latest on the winter storm watch.
If you're on-the-go, you can watch live on our Wake Up App, and still get your forecasts and alerts by phone.
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