Cold air spilling into north Georgia behind a strong low pressure center and associated cold front produced a period of light snow across portions of north Georgia during the evening of November 30 into the early morning of December 1.
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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.
The episode as NWS FFC wrote it up.
Cold air spilling into north Georgia behind a strong low pressure center and associated cold front produced a period of light snow across portions of north Georgia during the evening of November 30 into the early morning of December 1.
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 Nov 30, 9:04 PM EST, 2 hours 56 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Peachtree City GA 904 PM EST Mon Nov 30 2020 .UPDATE... 00z sounding here at FFC indicating an expected steep low level lapse rate with shallow wrap around moisture and even some weak SBCAPE. This coupled with upper forcing from strong vorticity lobe with upper trough traversing the area is allowing for the light snow shower transition a bit farther south across much of north GA and some portions of west central GA here this evening. Previous trends and observations warranted an expansion of the Winter Weather Advisory across north GA mainly along and north of a Rome to Canton to Cleveland line for light accumulations up to 1 inch and the far NE mtns possibly getting 2 inches. Forcing and moisture extent should diminish from west to east late evening into the early morning hours. Will need to focus on what accumulation observations can be made if any expansion time-wise is warranted beyond 7am Tuesday, since sfc temps may take into mid to late morning to warm above the freezing mark for most areas or even the afternoon for the mountains and could have some lingering slick conditions if snow is on any roadways or elevated sfcs. Apart from adjustments made to increase some pops farther south and resultant snow/light amounts, forecast largely on track. Previous discussion follows... 00z Aviation update below. Baker && .PREV DISCUSSION... /Issued 323 PM EST Mon Nov 30 2020/ SHORT TERM /Tonight through Tuesday Night/... Sharp 500 mb trough is located over the eastern third of the CONUS with associated surface low in the left exit region quickly moving to the NE across New England. Embedded within the trough is a Tropopause Polar Vortex and associated vortmax that is currently swinging into the area and providing PVA for some lift for light showers. Cold front associated with the surface low is moving across the CWA bringing some very cold air behind it. Temperatures will likely not increase much anywhere the cold front has already passed, which includes most of north GA. Expect winds to remain strong and gusty for most of the rest of the day, with only a little relief tonight. Overnight, expect temperatures to fall into the 20s and low 30s as some of the coldest air of the season thus far continues to filter in from the northwest. We have a northwest flow snow event that is setting up for our northern mountain counties, as surface moisture is lifted along the mountains in the persistent northwest winds. This will likely allow for some very localized accumulations along the NW facing ridges which could be as high as 1-2" with locally higher amounts. See the Winter Weather Advisory product for more information. Some models do indicate the potential for getting some very light snow to flurries elsewhere across north GA and possibly even into the metro. However, not expecting anything to accumulate in these areas at this time. Tomorrow will be a cool day with highs in the 40s across most of the CWA, and even lower in the mountains. Upper level trough will begin to pull away and surface high pressure will dominate. Winds may still be gusty at times, but skies will begin to clear. Lusk LONG TERM /Wednesday through Monday/... As the extended period begins on Wednesday morning, the cutoff low will continue to move away to the northeast as an upper level ridge builds over the southeastern CONUS. Surface high pressure will furthermore be in place over the region, promoting dry conditions and clear skies over the area on Wednesday. A transition in the pattern will be underway by Thursday morning as the ridge axis and surface high will shift east of Georgia ahead of the next system approaches, allowing for a shift to southwesterly flow aloft and easterly low-level winds. After the shift, there will be steady moisture increase over the forecast area, leading to increasing dewpoints and cloud cover throughout the day on Thursday. After the coldest temperatures of the season (so far) on Wednesday morning in the 20s across north and central Georgia, temperatures will continue to gradually warm during the day Wednesday and into Thursday. Highs on Wednesday afternoon will reach into the 50s across the majority of the forecast area, followed by lows in the upper 20s and low 30s Thursday morning and highs in the 50s and low 60s Thursday afternoon. The next low pressure system is still anticipated to bring showers to the forecast area at the end of the week, with rain chances beginning to increase across western Georgia on Thursday afternoon. Low-end chance PoPs are then forecast over much of north and central Georgia overnight and into Friday. At this time the system will need to be monitored in subsequent forecasts, as much uncertainty still remains with respect to this system. There has been little agreement or consistency from run to run regarding the timing, intensity, and evolution of the system. King && .AVIATION... 00Z Update... MVFR cigs lingering across most site and even some light SN or flurries near KATL here in the next hour or two before precip should be diminishing and then have gradual scattering/lifting of the cigs by 08/10z. Most sites should be clear after 15z Tuesday. Winds staying NW 10-14 kts gusting near 20-24 kts thru overnight and much of Tuesday. Should decrease and lose gusts after 23/00z Tuesday evening. //ATL Confidence...00Z Update... High on all elements. Baker && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... Athens 29 43 27 56 / 20 0 0 0 Atlanta 28 42 28 52 / 30 0 0 0 Blairsville 23 35 21 49 / 50 10 0 0 Cartersville 27 43 24 53 / 30 0 0 0 Columbus 29 46 27 57 / 10 0 0 0 Gainesville 28 41 28 54 / 30 0 0 0 Macon 30 48 25 58 / 10 0 0 0 Rome 28 44 23 54 / 40 0 0 0 Peachtree City 27 44 25 54 / 20 0 0 0 Vidalia 33 47 30 56 / 5 0 0 0 && .FFC WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... Winter Weather Advisory until 7 AM EST Tuesday for the following zones: Bartow...Catoosa...Chattooga...Cherokee...Dade...Dawson... Fannin...Floyd...Gilmer...Gordon...Lumpkin...Murray...Pickens... Towns...Union...Walker...White...Whitfield. && SHORT TERM...Lusk/Baker LONG TERM....King AVIATION...Baker
Hazardous Weather Outlook National Weather Service Peachtree City GA 554 PM EST Mon Nov 30 2020 GAZ001>009-011>016-019>025-027-030>039-041>062-066>076-078>086- 089>098-102>113-012300- Baldwin-Banks-Barrow-Bartow-Bibb-Bleckley-Butts-Carroll-Catoosa- Chattahoochee-Chattooga-Cherokee-Clarke-Clayton-Cobb-Coweta- Crawford-Crisp-Dade-Dawson-DeKalb-Dodge-Dooly-Douglas-Emanuel- Fannin-Fayette-Floyd-Forsyth-Gilmer-Glascock-Gordon-Greene- Gwinnett-Hall-Hancock-Haralson-Harris-Heard-Henry-Houston-Jackson- Jasper-Jefferson-Johnson-Jones-Lamar-Laurens-Lumpkin-Macon- Madison-Marion-Meriwether-Monroe-Montgomery-Morgan-Murray- Muscogee-Newton-North Fulton-Oconee-Oglethorpe-Paulding-Peach- Pickens-Pike-Polk-Pulaski-Putnam-Rockdale-Schley-South Fulton- Spalding-Stewart-Sumter-Talbot-Taliaferro-Taylor-Telfair-Toombs- Towns-Treutlen-Troup-Twiggs-Union-Upson-Walker-Walton-Warren- Washington-Webster-Wheeler-White-Whitfield-Wilcox-Wilkes- Wilkinson- 554 PM EST Mon Nov 30 2020 This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for portions of North and Central Georgia. .DAY ONE...Tonight... Snow showers are expected across portions of north Georgia this evening into tonight. Accumulations up to 2 inches are possible in higher elevations and up to 1 inch across the rest of the recently expanded Winter Weather Advisory area, now expanding along and north of a Rome to Canton to Cleveland line. This could lead to some hazardous driving conditions. Breezy winds combined with abnormally cold temperatures tonight and Tuesday morning will also drop wind chill values to the teens and lower 20s. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Tuesday through Sunday... There is a small chance for some snow mixed with rain Friday night into Saturday morning in far north Georgia, but only minimal snow accumulation is currently expected. Otherwise, no hazardous weather is expected through Sunday. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Spotter activation is not requested but spotters are encouraged to submit reports of winter weather through the web by going to weather.gov/atlanta.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
3 winter weather. Local standard time, as filed.
A National Weather Service COOP observer reported a quarter of an inch of snow northeast of Dallas during the evening of November 30 and the early morning of December 1.
A CoCoRaHS observer reported a tenth of an inch of snow northeast of Nelson during the evening of November 30 and the early morning of December 1.
A CoCoRaHS observer reported an inch and a half of snow west northwest of Blue Ridge during the evening of November 30 and the early morning of December 1.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Georgia in 2020Every state in 2020This day in weather historyWarnings in Georgia, December 2020
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: 929283, 929285, 929288.