Winter Storm in Georgia, December 21, 2000

Cold arctic air and unseasonably cold temperatures remained firmly entrenched across north and central Georgia when yet another disturbance traversed the region from the southwest. This system originated out of a large upper low that was slowly rotating through the Southern Plains. While arctic air was present at the surface, warm air aloft caused most of the precipitation to fall in the form of freezing rain and sleet, with some light snow. Precipitation was light and generally confined to a 40 to 60 mile wide band that stretched from near Carrollton, to Marietta, to Cumming, to Gainesville, to Homer. Within this band, accumulations of freezing rain, sleet, and snow were mostly in the 1/2 to 1 inch range. Forsyth, Lumpkin, and Banks counties received the most with a one inch accumulation of the winter mixture of precipitation. Although amounts were light, several days of well below freezing temperatures allowed the roads to quickly become icy and hazardous. Roads were reported to be ice covered in Forsyth, Gwinnett, and Hall counties, and snow covered the roads in White county.