Winter Weather — Taliaferro, Georgia

2011-02-10 · Taliaferro, Georgia

Event narrative

The Taliaferro County 911 Center reported 0.5 inch of snowfall across most of the county.

Wider weather episode

A deep full latitude trough was shifting from the central United States into the eastern United States during this period. Arctic air remained firmly entrenched across much of the central and eastern U.S., but was marginal across the southeast U.S. However, very cold temperatures aloft associated with a short wave embedded within the upper trough, helped to bring a band of moderate snow across much of north and the northern parts of central Georgia during the evening of the 9th and into the early morning hours of the 10th. Snowfall averaged from 1.0 to 2.0 inches across most north Georgia counties, with 0.5 to 1.0 inch across the northern portions of central Georgia. The depth of the cold air aloft kept all of the winter precipitation in the form of snow with this event. Surface and ground temperatures were in the upper 30s to lower 40s at the beginning of the event and failed to drop much below 32 at any time during the event. Snowfall accumluations on roads were confined to bridges and overpasses and compared to previous snow/ice events of the 2010 - 2011 winter season, this event had a very minimal and brief impact on travel conditions across north Georgia. The snow melted quickly after sunrise on the 10th as the upper trough moved east of the area, skies cleared, and temperatures warmed into the low and mid 40s by afternoon. Interestingly enough, after a fairly harsh winter to this point in the season, a major upper atmospheric pattern change subsequent to this event from a deep eastern U.S. trough to a highly progressive, zonal flow, resulted in the remainder of February being well above normal. For example, the Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport saw its last freezing temperature for the winter season on February 12, 2011.

Below is a list of snowfall reports received from counties across north and central Georgia.

Baldwin county - a trace of snow;

Banks county - 1.0 inch of snow;

Barrow county - 2.0 inches of snow;

Bartow county - 0.5 inch of snow;

Bibb county - 0.5 inch of snow;

Butts county - 0.5 inch of snow;

Carroll county - 1.0 inch of snow;

Catoosa county - 1.0 inch of snow;

Chattooga county - 1.0 inch of snow;

Cherokee county - 0.5 inch of snow;

Clarke county - 2.0 inches of snow;

Clayton county - 1.0 inch of snow;

Cobb county - 1.0 inch of snow;

Coweta county - 1.0 inch of snow;

Crawford county - a trace of snow;

Dade county - 1.0 inch of snow;

Dawson county - 1.5 inches of snow;

DeKalb county - 1.0 inch of snow;

Douglas county - 1.0 inch of snow;

Fannin county - 1.0 inch of snow;

Fayette county - 1.0 inch of snow;

Floyd county - 0.5 inch of snow;

Forsyth county - 1.0 inch of snow;

Fulton county - 1.0 inch of snow;

Gilmer county - 0.5 inch of snow;

Gordon county - 0.5 inch of snow;

Greene county - 0.5 inch of snow;

Gwinnett county - 1.0 inch of snow;

Hall county - 1.0 inch of snow;

Hancock county - a trace of snow;

Haralson county - 1.0 inch of snow;

Harris county - a trace of snow;

Heard county - 0.5 inch of snow;

Henry county - 1.0 inch of snow;

Jackson county - 2.0 inches of snow;

Jasper county - 0.5 inch of snow;

Jones county - 0.5 inch of snow;

Lamar county - 0.5 inch of snow;

Lumpkin county - 1.0 inch of snow;

Madison county - 1.5 inches of snow;

Meriwether county - 0.5 inch of snow;

Monroe county - 0.5 inch of snow;

Morgan county - 1.5 inches of snow;

Murray county - 0.5 inch of snow;

Newton county - 1.0 inch of snow;

Oconee county - 1.5 inches of snow;

Oglethorpe county - 2.0 inches of snow;

Paulding county - 0.5 inch of snow;

Peach county - a trace of snow;

Pickens county - 1.0 inch of snow;

Pike county - 0.5 inch of snow;

Polk county - 1.0 inch of snow;

Putnam county - 0.5 inch of snow;

Rockdale county - 1.0 inch of snow;

Spalding county - 1.0 inch of snow;

Talbot county - a trace of snow;

Taliaferro county - 0.5 inch of snow;

Taylor county - a trace of snow;

Towns county - 1.0 inch of snow;

Troup county - 0.5 inch of snow;

Twiggs county - a trace of snow;

Union county - 1.0 inch of snow;

Upson county - 0.5 inch of snow;

Walker county - 1.0 inch of snow;

Walton county - 2.0 inches of snow;

Warren county - a trace of snow;

White county - 1.0 inch of snow;

Whitfield county - 1.5 inches of snow;

Wilkes county - 0.5 inch of snow.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 285917. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.