Winter Storm in Heard County, Georgia

Two to four (2-4) inches of snow and sleet quickly accumulated across Heard County during the early morning hours. Lesser amounts of snow were seen across the southern half of the county, where a mix of snow, sleet and freezing rain occurred. Eventually by late morning, all precipitation transitioned to rain before ending.

An Arctic airmass was entrenched across the eastern United States 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 10th. Temperatures throughout the atmospheric column were initially cold enough for snow across north Georgia on the morning of Friday, January 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 as well as one-tenth to one-third of an inch of freezing rain had accumulated across most of north Georgia.