Ice Storm — Jefferson, Georgia

2014-02-12 to 2014-02-13 · Jefferson, Georgia

Event narrative

A significant winter storm impacted north and portions of central Georgia on Tuesday the 11th and Wednesday the 12th. For areas south of the Atlanta Metropolitan area and into central Georgia, the event began Wednesday morning the 12th. Rain mixed with and changed over to freezing rain through the morning hours, resulting in catastrophic ice accretions of a half to one inch of ice, with localized higher amounts, especially along the Interstate 20 corridor. Thousands of trees were downed and widespread power outages were reported, with some customers without power for days. The event ended as a round of light snow Wednesday evening.

Wider weather episode

The second major winter storm in as many weeks hit north and central Georgia on February 12th. An area of extremely strong cold air damming moved down the Eastern Seaboard and into north Georgia on the 12th. Southwest flow aloft allowed significant moisture to move across the Southeast, with a disturbance pushing across the southern tier of the country. A surface low developed in the northern Gulf on the 12th, pushing into extreme Southeast Georgia on the 13th. Moisture overspread the area in advance of the surface low and with cold surface temperatures in place from the cold air damming, another significant winter storm hit the area.

This storm was different from the storm two weeks prior for two main reasons: firstly, residents across north and central Georgia were well-prepared for the event, and secondly, this storm brought with it catastrophic accumulations of ice along the Interstate 20 corridor east of Atlanta towards Athens. Significant amounts of snow fell in north Georgia as well. The crippling nature of this winter storm, unlike the first, was not necessarily due to the societal impacts but rather to the significant accumulations of ice and snow and resulting widespread power outages.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 501829. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.