Winter Storm — Bacon, Georgia

2018-01-03 · Bacon, Georgia

Event narrative

Observations across the area indicated the start of freezing rainfall and ice accumulations before dawn. Between 8 am and 10 am, snow began. At 10:30 am, the public reported about 3 inches of snow accumulation on the ground. At 12:48 pm, the media reported 2.5 inches of snowfall accumulation in Alma. At 4 pm, the airport manager at Alma Regional Airport estimated 3 inches of snowfall on the ground. The emergency manager reported a widespread snow of 2-4 inches across the entire county with some remote areas with up to 6 inches of accumulation. Roads were closed early in the day due to icing, as of 3 pm, all roads were opened once again with only some icing on roads due to shading.

Wider weather episode

An unseasonably deep cold airmass was in place across the southeast region. An area of low pressure deepened near the Bahamas during the day as a vigorous upper level trough swept over the region from the west. The upper level lift, cold airmass, and strong low level winds created an area of freezing precipitation across the forecast area, with freezing rain up to 0.50 thick across NE FL and SE GA generally south of Waycross, with a historic snowfall from Homerville to Waycross to Jesup northward with amounts of 2-4 inches and up to 6 inches. Widespread power outages occurred due to frozen precipitation and numerous roads were closed.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 726421. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.