Winter Weather — South Fulton, Georgia

2009-03-01 · South Fulton, Georgia

Event narrative

Snowfall varied from one inch around downtown Atlanta to almost two inches in the southern part of the county.

Wider weather episode

A vigorous closed upper-level low, with very cold temperatures aloft, continued to intensify as it moved rapidly southeast from the Midwest into the southeast U.S. from the evening of February 28th into the afternoon of March 1st. At the same time, a polar air mass (marked by a 1040+ mb surface high) was spreading southeast from the central Canadian provinces into the eastern half of the U.S. The combination of these events brought a rare late season heavy snow storm to parts of north and central Georgia. Rain early in the morning changed to moderate to heavy snow just before noon on the 1st and spread from west to east across west central, north central, central, east central, and northeast Georgia. Even some thunderstorms and cloud-to-ground lightning strikes were observed during the height of the storm from late morning through mid-afternoon across north central, west central, northeast, and central Georgia. Measurable snowfall was confined to an area generally south of a Buchanan, to Canton, to Gainesville line and north of a Lumpkin, to Americus, to Warner Robins, to Gibson line. Snowfall averaged two to three inches within most of the snow area, but pockets of five to six inches of snow were recorded across parts of west central Georgia from the north side of Columbus, through Pine Mountain and into Troup and Meriwether county. The heaviest snow fell in northeast and parts of east central Georgia where a deformation zone developed on the back side of the departing upper low during the early evening. Snowfall from Lawrenceville, to Athens, to Danielsville averaged six to seven inches. The water content of the snow was high, which resulted in extensive downed trees, power lines, and telephone cables in areas that saw three or more inches of snow. Widespread power outages to thousands of people were observed in the Clarke, Morgan, Oconee, Jackson, and Madison county areas of northeast Georgia. Many residents in this part of the state were left without power for two to three days.

The weight of the more than a half-a-foot of heavy, wet snow caused 14 poultry houses on 11 different farms to collapse. While the majority of this damage was in Madison county, a few chicken houses were also destroyed in Oconee and Morgan counties as well. In Jackson county, damage to overhead netting and cable systems occurred at the Lamar Murphy Park in Jefferson and the West Jackson Park in Hoschton.

In addition to the heavy snow, strong northwest winds developed across the region as the snow departed and a large Arctic high pressure system moved southeast from the northern plains. The gusty 25 to 30 mph northwest winds caused several trees and power lines to be blown down in Bartow county. Two homes in Cartersville were damaged when trees fell on the structures.

Finally at least one injury was reported as a result of slick roads across the area. A 21-year old male suffered an indirect weather-related injury when his Dodge Pickup truck hit a path of ice on Newborn Road in Morgan county. The truck spun off the road and hit a tree.

The following is a summary by county of the maximum snowfall amount reported to the National Weather Service for all counties with the forecast area receiving a trace or more of snowfall:

Baldwin - trace,

Banks - 4.0 inches,

Barrow - 4.0 inches,

Bartow - trace,

Bibb - 2.0 inches,

Bleckley - 0.5 inch,

Butts - 4.0 inches,

Carroll - 1.5 inches,

Chattahoochee - 2.0 inches,

Cherokee - trace,

Clarke - 5.0 inches,

Clayton - 2.0 inches,

Cobb - trace north to 1.5 inches south,

Coweta - 2.0 inches,

Crawford - 1.0 inch,

Crisp - trace,

DeKalb - 1.5 inches north to 2.5 inches south,

Dodge - trace,

Dooly - trace,

Douglas - 4.0 inches,

Fannin - trace,

Fayette - 2.5 inches,

Forsyth - trace,

Fulton - 1.5 inches north to 2.5 inches south,

Glascock - trace,

Greene - 2.0 inches,

Gwinnett - 5.0 inches,

Hall - trace north to 5.0 inches south,

Hancock - 2.0 inches,

Haralson - trace,

Harris - 4.0 inches,

Heard - 3.0 inches,

Henry - 3.0 inches,

Houston - up to one inch north,

Jackson - 4.0 inches,

Jasper - 6.0 inches,

Jones - 3.0 inches,

Lamar - 2.0 inches,

Laurens - a trace north,

Lumpkin - trace,

Madison - 7.0 inches (the maximum within the forecast area),

Marion - 3.0 inches,

Meriwether - 5.0 inches,

Monroe - 2.0 inches,

Morgan - 4.0 inches,

Muscogee - 2.0 inches,

Newton - 4.0 inches,

Oconee - 5.0 inches,

Oglethorpe - 4.0 inches,

Paulding - 2.0 inches,

Peach - trace,

Pickens - trace,

Pike - 4.0 inches,

Pulaski - trace,

Putnam - 2.0 inches,

Rockdale - 1.0 inch,

Schley - 1.0 inch,

Spalding - 4.0 inches,

Talbot - 3.0 inches,

Taliaferro - 1.0 inch,

Taylor - 2.0 inches,

Towns - trace,

Troup - 4.0 inches,

Twiggs - 1.5 inches,

Upson - 3.0 inches,

Walton - 3.0 inches,

Wilkes - 2.0 inches,

Wilkinson - trace.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 156851. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.