Winter Storm in Georgia, March 19 to 20, 2001

Name: Winter Storm in Georgia, March 19 to 20, 2001
Start: 2001-03-19T18:00
End: 2001-03-20T12:00
Location: Georgia

March 19 to 20, 2001 · NWS FFC · 5 events in 5 counties and zones

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 5 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 5

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

What happened

The episode as NWS FFC wrote it up.

The same strong, slow moving, cut off upper-level low pressure system that brought damaging winds and heavy rain to north and central Georgia, also brought an unseasonably late snowfall to the higher elevations of the northeast Georgia mountains. Unseasonably cold air was wrapped into the strong storm system, changing the rain to sleet and snow at the higher elevations. The event began as a period of sleet mixed with snow from the northern Atlanta metropolitan area eastward to Athens during the evening hours of the 19th and then spread north and northeast into the north Georgia mountains. In the higher elevations, mainly above 2500 feet, much of the precipitation during the night fell as snow, with some sleet mixture. Snowfall accumulations of 1 to 2 inches were common in the higher elevations in Murray, Gilmer, Fannin, and Towns counties. Because temperatures were near or slightly above freezing at most locations, the snowfall melted quickly and minimized hazardous road conditions.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Atlanta, GA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Mar 19, 3:55 PM EST, 2 hours 5 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Mar 19, 3:55 PM EST, 2 hours 5 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PEACHTREE CITY GA
355 PM EST MON MAR 19 2001

LOW PRESSURE DEVELOPING IN THE NORTHEAST GULF WILL CAUSE DIFFERING
WEATHER FOR OUR CWA. LOW MOVING INTO SOUTHEAST GA TUESDAY AND IN
COMBINATION WITH HIGH PRESSURE OVER NEW ENGLAND...GIVING WINDY
CONDITIONS TO CWA. WITH PLENTY OF MOISTURE BEING PULLED INTO THE
AREA FROM THE ATLANTIC AND GULF...POTENTIAL FOR FLOODING AGAIN
MAINLY FOR CENTRAL CWA. SOME RIVERS STILL IN FLOOD. HAVE ISSUED A
FLOOD WATCH FOR CENTRAL ZONES TONIGHT THROUGH TUESDAY. IN THE
NORTHEAST...HIGH PRESSURE WEDGING DOWN THE MOUNTAINS GIVING LOW DEW
POINTS AND TEMPERATURES TO THAT AREA. THICKNESS VALUES BORDERLINE
FOR TONIGHT AND TUESAY. AT THIS POINT...HAVE ISSUED A WINTER WEATHER
ADVISORY FOR SNOW. UP TO TWO INCHES POSSIBLE MAINLY HIGHER
ELEVATIONS. LOOKS LIKE ENOUGH WARMING AFTER TOMORROW MORNING FOR ALL
RAIN NORTHEAST. HAVE LEANED TOWARD COOLER NUMBERS FOR TONIGHT
THROUGH TUESDAY...DUE TO WEDGING. OTHERWISE HAVE COMPROMISED BETWEEN
FWC/MAV.

FCSTID = 41
ATL   38  45  39  51 / 100 100  80  50
AHN   39  45  39  53 / 100 100  80  40
GVL   39  45  39  53 / 100 100  80  40
RMG   40  46  42  52 / 100 100  80  40
CSG   45  54  44  59 / 100 100  80  40
MCN   46  53  43  58 / 100 100  80  40

.ATL...
GA...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY TONIGHT AND TUESAY MORNING NORTHEAST.
     FLOOD WATCH CENTRAL TONIGHT AND TUESDAY.

]

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Mar 19, 12:43 PM EST, 5 hours 17 minutes before

GAZ001>009-011>016-019>025-027-030>039-041>062-066>076-078>086-
089>098-102>113-192042-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK FOR NORTH AND CENTRAL GEORGIA
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PEACHTREE CITY GA
1243 PM EST MON MAR 19 2001

...HEAVY RAINFALL POSSIBLE IN CENTRAL GEORGIA TONIGHT...
...RAIN MAY MIX WITH SNOW TONIGHT IN NORTHEAST GEORGIA...

.SYNOPSIS...
LOW PRESSURE WILL CONTINUE TO STRENGTHEN IN THE NORTHEAST GULF OF
MEXICO THIS AFTERNOON...AND WILL MOVE SLOWLY NORTHEAST TONIGHT.
STRONG EASTERLY WINDS WILL PULL PLENTY OF MOISTURE FROM THE GULF OF
MEXICO AND THE ATLANTIC OCEAN NORTH AND NORTHWEST INTO GEORGIA.
RAINFALL WILL BE ON THE INCREASE THIS AFTERNOON AND ESPECIALLY
TONIGHT INTO EARLY TUESDAY.

.PRIMARY HAZARD...
RAIN...LOCALLY HEAVY...WITH ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE THE
PRIMARY THREAT IN CENTRAL GEORGIA TONIGHT...MAINLY SOUTH OF A LINE
FROM ATLANTA TO ATHENS. RAINFALL AMOUNTS SOUTH OF THIS LINE WILL
GENERALLY BE ONE TO TWO INCHES...BUT LOCAL THREE INCH RAINS ARE
POSSIBLE. HOWEVER...NO SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE FORECAST.

.DISCUSSION...
THE DEVELOPING LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM OVER THE GULF WILL BRING DEEP
MOISTURE AND STRONG UPWARD MOTION TO THE AREA BY TONIGHT. THE SLOW
MOVEMENT IN THE STORM SYSTEM WILL RESULT IN PLENTY OF RAINFALL
ACROSS THE AREA...ESPECIALLY CENTRAL GEORGIA. THE ATMOSPHERE IS
FORECAST TO HOLD OVER AN INCH OF WATER TONIGHT. AS THE STRONG UPWARD
MOTIONS APPROACH...THIS WATER WILL BE CONDENSED INTO RAINFALL. ONE
TO TWO INCHES OF RAIN IS FORECAST...WITH ISOLATED THREE INCH
AMOUNTS. THIS WILL LIKELY RESULTS IN SOME MINOR FLOODING...MAINLY IN
CENTRAL GEORGIA LATE TONIGHT.

.OTHER HAZARDS...
STRONG NORTHEAST WINDS WILL PULL COLD AND DRY AIR INTO NORTHEAST
GEORGIA FROM THE MID ATLANTIC STATES THIS AFTERNOON. AS THE RAIN MOVES INTO
THE NORTHEAST GEORGIA MOUNTAINS TONIGHT...THE EVAPORATION WILL COOL
THE ATMOSPHERE TO THE POINT WHERE THE RAIN MAY MIX WITH OR CHANGE TO
A PERIOD OF SNOW. HOWEVER...DUE TO THE MARGINAL TEMPERATURE
CONDITIONS...AS TEMPERATURES WILL HOLD BETWEEN 32 TO 35...ANY
SNOWFALL AMOUNTS ARE EXPECTED TO BE MINOR.

.FOR SPOTTERS...
SPOTTER GROUPS AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL SHOULD MONITOR
WEATHER CONDITIONS...BUT SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED AT
THIS TIME.

&&
FOR THE GRAPHICAL HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK AND OTHER WEATHER
INFORMATION...PLEASE VISIT OUR WEBSITE AT WWW.SRH.NOAA.GOV/FFC.

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

5 winter storm. Local standard time, as filed.

Winter Storm, Fannin

When: March 19, 6:00 PM EST to March 20, 12:00 PM EST
Where: Fannin forecast zone
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates: 34.864, -84.320 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Gilmer

When: March 19, 6:00 PM EST to March 20, 12:00 PM EST
Where: Gilmer forecast zone
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates: 34.691, -84.456 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Murray

When: March 19, 6:00 PM EST to March 20, 12:00 PM EST
Where: Murray forecast zone
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates: 34.788, -84.748 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Towns

When: March 19, 6:00 PM EST to March 20, 12:00 PM EST
Where: Towns forecast zone
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates: 34.917, -83.737 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Union

When: March 19, 6:00 PM EST to March 20, 12:00 PM EST
Where: Union forecast zone
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates: 34.834, -83.991 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Winter Storm: A storm that brought snow, sleet or freezing rain at warning levels, usually over several hours or days.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Georgia in 2001 Every state in 2001 This day in weather history Warnings in Georgia, March 2001

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5237370, 5237371, 5237372, 5237373, 5237374.