Thousands Still Without Power

Restoring electricity to thousands of Georgia residents is still the challenge this morning in the wake of the weekend’s winter storms that moved through.

Georgia EMC says there are still 13,000 of its customers without power. The outages are mainly concentrated in the northeast Georgia counties of Madison and Jackson. Georgia EMC crews are working to repair two sub-stations, along with a couple dozen poles damaged from the storm.

Georgia Power tells GPB this morning it is down to 1,500 customers still in the dark--all in the northeast portion of the state. It expects all power to be restored by this afternoon.

There are also a handful of county school system closings for today:

Clarke, Hart, Jackson, Madison, and Oconee counties. Elbert County schools will delay opening by a couple of hours.

Electricity Restoration Work Continues

Electricity is slowly being restored to customers across the state affected by the weekend’s winter weather.

A Georgia Power spokesperson says as of early this afternoon, it was down to around 25,000 customers still without electricity. The outages remain concentrated in the northeast Georgia region.

The Georgia Electric Membership Corporation says it has a little more than 20,000 customers still without power, down from 29,000 earlier this morning. Georgia EMC workers are focused on the hard-hit areas of Jackson and Madison counties, where two substations were affected by a transmission line problem. Officials say some customers may not get power restored until sometime Monday night.

State Recovers From Winter Weather

A Sunday full of snow, and an overnight of gusty winds across parts of Georgia have mixed to present Monday morning problems for parts of the state.

Officials with Georgia Power this morning tell GPB they still have about 28,000 customers without electricity as of 8am. The bulk of those outages are in the Athens-area, with strong winds causing numerous downed tree limbs onto power lines.

From the group of electric membership cooperatives in Georgia, serving four-million residents--they report about 29,000 customers without power. Along with outages in metro Atlanta, outages also are reported in middle and west Georgia. Georgia EMC says its biggest challenge involves extensive damage to a transmission line and two substations in Jackson and Madison Counties, which has impacted about 16,000 customers. Last evening, this area received nearly seven inches of snow, prompting repairs that could extend into early to late Monday evening.

The state Department of Transportation says they’ve been working through the night to handle trouble spots in Georgia when reports of icy patches on roads come in. Brian Gunter is with the DOT says about 100 trucks right now are on duty:

"Over the last 24 hours all over Georgia we've had over a 1,000 employees and 200 pieces of equipment just rolling around checking out the icy spots and laying down sand and salt."

There are dozens of county school system closings across Georgia, along with numerous private school and city school closures. The list of county school system closings as of 8:10 am:

Baldwin, Banks, Barrow, Bibb, Bleckley, Butts, Clarke, Clayton, Coweta, DeKalb, Dodge, Elbert, Fayette, Fulton, Gwinnett, Hancock, Hart, Henry, Jackson, Jasper, Jones, Lamar, Madison, Meriwether, Monroe, Morgan, Newton, Oconee, Oglethorpe, Pike, Putnam, Rockdale, Spalding, Taylor, Telfair, Troup, Twiggs, Upson, Walton, Wheeler, Wilkes.

Winter Weather Closings

--Updated 8:10am--
County school systems closed in Georgia Monday:
Baldwin, Banks, Barrow, Bibb, Bleckley, Butts, Clarke, Clayton, Coweta, DeKalb, Dodge, Elbert, Fayette, Fulton, Gwinnett, Hancock, Hart, Henry, Jackson, Jasper, Jones, Lamar, Madison, Meriwether, Monroe, Morgan, Newton, Oconee, Oglethorpe, Pike, Putnam, Rockdale, Spalding, Taylor, Telfair, Troup, Twiggs, Upson, Walton, Wheeler, Wilkes.

In addition, numerous city school systems and private schools are closed today.

The University of Georgia is closed to classes today.

People in Augusta Area Ask Where Did Snow Go

The wintry weather expected to hit the Augusta area on Sunday has practically turned into a non-event. Forecasters had issued a winter storm warning for the area, expecting snow and icy conditions, but that didn't happen after dry air moved into the storm system. Students in the area get a break, though, since some area school systems, such as Columbia County, had already cancelled classes for today. The Richmond County school system in Augusta, meanwhile, will start classes one hour late. Augusta State University will begin classes at 10 a.m., and Paine College will start two hours late.

Wintry Weather Heading Toward Augusta

The wintry weather moving across the state is making its way into eastern Georgia. A winter storm warning is in effect for the Augusta area, and includes Richland, Columbia, Lincoln and Thomson counties in Georgia, and much of neighboring South Carolina. The warning is in effect from 4 p.m. on Sunday until 7 a.m. on Monday.

Forecasters expect a mix of rain and snow to begin by 7 p.m. this evening in the area, then changing to snow by 9 p.m. Some of the snow could be heavy for a brief period before midnight, tapering off by early Monday morning. Forecasters are expecting 2-4 inches of snow between the Augusta area and central South Carolina, with the heavier snow to likely fall north of Augusta. Freezing temperatures could make roads slippery on Monday morning.

Columbia County schools in eastern Georgia have cancelled classes for Monday. Central office staff will report to work by 10 a.m., or as road conditions permit, according to the superintendent, Charles Nagle.

Weather Forces School Closings in North Georgia

The combination of light snow, some icy roads, and cold temperatures has prompted some north Georgia county school officials to cancel classes for students today.

There will be no school Tuesday for students in Fannin, Gilmer, Towns, Union, and Whitfield county schools. There is also no class today for students of Dalton Public Schools.

High temperatures across the state expected only in the low 30s north, to upper 40s in southern Georgia.

Winter weather factors in death of north Georgia police chief

Winter weather conditions are to blame for a fatality in north Georgia Monday. The police chief of the small town of Nelson in north Georgia was killed in an accident along the Pickens-Cherokee County line. 32-year-old Clay Adams and a female passenger were on Georgia Highway 515 in Blue Ridge around noon when they were struck by another driver who lost control on a patch of ice. Adams’ car was struck head-on. Adams had been chief of Nelson for a little more than a year.

Winter weather closes some north Georgia schools

Snow was falling in some areas of northern-most Georgia this morning. Because of that, two school systems called-off classes for today--students in Fannin and Rabun counties get another day-off to extend their Thanksgiving holiday break.

The National Weather Service says there is a winter weather advisory in effect until 1am Tuesday morning for 10 northeast Georgia mountain counties. Forecasters say there could be snow accumulations of up to two inches for elevations above 2,500 feet.

Fog, rain slow some flights at Hartsfield-Jackson

Delta Airlines jets line up at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. (AP/John Bazemore)

Fog and rain caused some flight delays at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport at the start of the busiest travel day of the year.

But airport officials on Sunday say they're off to a crowded, but smooth start for Thanksgiving travelers trying to get home.

National Weather Service meteorologist Patricia Atwell says weather conditions were causing low visibility that could slow aircraft arrivals.

The Federal Aviation Administration reported departure delays between 15 to 30 minutes and arrival delays of about 45 minutes Sunday morning because of clouds and low visibility.

Airport officials urged travelers to do their homework -- checking flight status, security waits and available parking -- before getting to the airport.

Click here for more GPB News coverage of travel and transportation issues.

Information from: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, http://www.ajc.com

(AP)

Icy conditions close schools, slow drivers

Freezing temperatures and thick fog are creating a mess for motorists in northeast Georgia. The conditions caught motorists by surprise this morning. A thick fog settled over the mountains overnight, and temperatures dipped just below freezing, causing wet roads to ice over.

At about 5 a.m. troopers shut down all the main roads motorists use to get in and out of the mountains, including Highway 365 in Habersham County, U.S. 441 in Rabun County, and Highway 17 in Stephens County. Georgia DOT crews have been out since about 7a.m. salting and sanding those roads, and by 7:30 a.m., the Georgia State Patrol had re-opened them.

However, the State Patrol continues to work numerous accidents because of the black ice across northeast Georgia, and they are asking people to stay off the roads until temperatures rise and the fog lifts.

Habersham and Rabun County schools are closed. Stephens and Lumpkin County schools are on a two-hour delay because school buses cannot get on the road because of icy conditions.

Snow, ice blanket north Georgia

Demorest: Walking Through Woods on a Snowy Morning (M.J. Kneiser)

With temperatures hovering around freezing, snow, sleet and ice fell across much of north Georgia overnight. The northeast Georgia mountains received the most snowfall, with some spots getting up to 3 inches.

The National Weather Service reports that snowfalls across the region ranged from near three inches in Lumpkin and White counties to around an inch in Gilmer, Banks and Forsyth counties. Snow also fell in Atlanta and as far south as Peachtree City.
DOT spokesman Mark McKinnon said that trucks were still spreading sand and salt on major roadways in northeast Georgia this morning and monitoring conditions across the state.

McKinnon says driving to work should not be a problem for most Georgians: “As long as they’re careful, [drivers] will be fine. Roads are wet with a possible icy patch here or there.”

Still, many school systems across north Georgia have cancelled classes today because of the potentially dangerous conditions.

Officials expect conditions to improve as temperatures climb into the upper 30s and lower 40s during the day today.

Georgia School Closings

The following public schools are closed due to inclement weather in North Georgia:

Banks County Schools
Carroll County Schools, 12-month staff report
Cherokee County Schools
Dawson County Schools
Fannin County Schools
Forsyth County Schools
Franklin County Schools
Gilmer County Schools
Habersham County Schools, 12-month staff report
Hall County Schools
Haralson County Schools
Hart County Schools
Lumpkin County Schools
Pickens County Schools
Rabun County Schools
Stephens County Schools, 12-month staff report
Towns County Schools
Union County Schools
White County Schools

Winter weather rolls into north Georgia

Winter weather is moving into north Georgia today, with possible effects to be felt well into Thursday.

Several counties in the extreme northeast portion of the state are under either a winter weather advisory, or winter storm warning. The watch/warning period extends from 7pm Wednesday to 7pm Thursday. Starting this afternoon, there is the chance of rain with either a mix of sleet or snow to fall in these areas. Lows in north Georgia tonight are expected in the 20s and 30s.