Midtown Atlanta is shown from the 17th Street Bridge on Friday, Jan. 10, 2025. (Patrick Saunders/WABE)
This story was updated on Friday, Jan. 10 at 4:36 p.m.
After weeks of anticipation and planning, a winter storm hit Atlanta before sunrise on Friday, blanketing the city in snow and canceling school, flights and more.
Significant ice accumulations are expected across metro Atlanta through Friday evening and overnight into Saturday as wintery mix transitions to freezing rain, according to the latest National Weather Service update around 2 p.m. This will bring “dangerous to impossible” travel conditions.
Expected ice accumulation in Georgia on Friday into Saturday according to the National Weather Service. (NWS)
There is a concern for downed trees and powerlines causing increased power outages, primarily on Saturday afternoon when wind gusts of 20-30 m.p.h. and snow and ice coat tree branches.
A winter storm warning remains in effect until 7 a.m. Saturday for north Georgia — including metro Atlanta — and portions of central Georgia. A winter weather advisory for portions of central Georgia south of the warning area will expire at 4 p.m. Friday.
‘Please stay home’
Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum urged people to stay off the roads.
“What we are asking and what our mayor is asking us is to stay home,” he told WABE while out in Atlantic Station on Friday morning. “If you have the opportunity to stay home, enjoy time with your family, your friends, your favorite pet — you should do so.”
Schierbaum said that drivers on the roads Friday create emergencies and make it harder for the city’s police, fire and public works departments to do their jobs. Numerous car accidents have occurred throughout the city.
“So let’s enjoy this beautiful day and snowfall on foot,” he said. “Let’s enjoy it as we walk around our city, but please stay home and not be in your vehicles.”
Vehicles move slowly on I-575 during a winter storm on Friday, Jan. 10, 2025, in Kennesaw, Georgia. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
Gov. Brian Kemp said that driving could get worse Friday afternoon.
“This morning the snow was beautiful, if you were driving on it, it probably seemed pretty easy to do,” he said at a press briefing. “That is changing as we speak with freezing rain, rain that may freeze, winds and other things coming in.”
A truck tows a car stuck in the road in Stone Mountain on Friday, Jan. 10, 2025. (Matthew Pearson/WABE)
The Georgia Department of Transportation started applying brine as a pre-treatment on Wednesday to 20,000 miles of roads from Macon to Tennessee on I-75, and Alabama to South Carolina on I-20, plus everything north of that line. They’re out plowing roads Friday to get lanes passable so they can retreat them ahead of more precipitation later in the day.
“We are 24/7 until this event subsides and everything’s safe, GDOT Commissioner Russell McMurry said at a Friday press briefing. “Our main goal is trying to keep two lanes passable on the interstate first, then we try to catch the ramps and after we do that, we sort of get off onto the secondary state route highways.”
“It’s hard to keep up with Mother Nature, but we’re doing our best,” Kemp said.
The Atlanta Department of Transportation announced at 8 a.m. that a water main break in Buckhead has temporarily closed a stretch of Pharr Road.
Passengers evacuate plane on Atlanta airport runway
Over 1,100 flights have been canceled and over 500 have been delayed coming into and out of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport as of 4 p.m., according to FlightAware.
Passengers had to evacuate an airplane via emergency slides around 9 a.m. according to airport officials. Four passengers had minor injuries, with three being treated on the scene and one going to the hospital. The others were safely transported to a nearby concourse.
The number of power outages in Georgia has decreased over the day, with around 1,800 customers out in the state by 4 p.m. In the metro Atlanta area, Cobb County is reporting the most outages, with 370 people out of power.
The view from the Home Park neighborhood in Atlanta, Georgia, around 8:30 a.m. on Friday, Jan. 10, 2024. (Patrick Saunders/WABE)
The precipitation will likely continue Friday afternoon and evening, then end around midnight, according to GEMA meteorologist Will Lanxton. Temperatures are not expected to go above freezing in Atlanta until Saturday afternoon, then they’ll fall below freezing again Saturday night. It will be in the upper teens to low 20s on Sunday morning.
“So if anything has not melted and dried by the time the sun goes down tomorrow, there’s a good likelihood it’s going to refreeze by Sunday morning,” he said at the press briefing.
Lanxton isn’t expecting very strong winds.
“But it doesn’t take much to bring trees and powerlines down with this much snow and ice,” he said, which could bring more power outages.
