“No never too soon to worry about the weather,” the governor said while speaking to reporters after an education announcement at the Capitol.
ATLANTA — Gov. Brian Kemp on Tuesday indicated that Georgia has already begun preparations for what could be a highly disruptive winter ice storm this weekend.
“No, never too soon to worry about the weather,” the governor said while speaking to reporters after an education announcement at the Capitol.
“I can tell you we had the whole team ready this past weekend, we were just short of opening up the state operations center when the forecast kept getting a little bit better. But we’re already looking at next weekend, we’ll be prepared, treating roads, having teams ready. Hopefully, we’ll get snow and not ice, but (GEMA) Director (Josh) Lamb, the rest of our team is on it.”
The governor referenced state preparations just this last weekend as snow fell across much of the central part of the state.
The 11Alive Weather Impact Team has issued a Weather Impact Alert for this coming weekend, as parts of north Georgia could see freezing rain and possibly some snow. Significant freezing rain and ice accumulation could cause major disruptions to travel and power systems, 11Alive Meteorologist Melissa Nord reported Tuesday.
By 1/2″ of ice accretion, tree damage becomes more widespread, and power outages become more widespread as well.
If the ice amounts get above 0.75″, it’s a nightmare ice storm scenario with widespread power outages that could be of longer duration.
As Gov. Kemp noted Tuesday, Georgia maintains a State Operations Center to coordinate state, local, federal, private and volunteer resources during disaster responses. The governor has not yet said whether that center will be activated this weekend.
