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A winter storm warning remains in effect for Gainesville and Hall County after heavy snow began falling late Friday morning.
The warning extends until 10 a.m. Saturday, according to the National Weather Service, which warned specifically of “difficult travel conditions” and 2 to 4 inches of snow.
Hall and Gainesville schools released students one hour early Friday and businesses and governments also were closing. All Friday and Saturday morning school activities were canceled for both districts. Hall County School District Superintendent Will Schofield said he’ll decide whether to hold Saturday evening activities by noon Saturday.
The National Weather Service forecast called for a 100 percent chance of snow in the area through Friday. Temperatures stayed just warmer than freezing for most of the day but were expected to dip below 32 degrees overnight, which could cause black ice to form on bridges, overpasses and, in more northern counties, roads in general.
The weather warning, which initially lasted until 7 a.m. Saturday, was extended three hours because of potential for more snow later in the day Friday, according to National Weather Service meteorologist Adam Baker.
Baker said forecasts showed another band of snow could pass over Gainesville.
“We’re watching some trends right now, and you’re right on the edge of where we’re seeing the higher accumulation,” he said.
And it did: Snow was accumulating across Hall County through the day. The winter storm warning initially only applied to counties northwest of Hall, but by mid-afternoon — after several inches of snow had fallen in the area — the warning was extended past Hall and into Jackson County.
The forecast called for the Gainesville-area temperature to drop to about 30 degrees overnight Friday. By mid-morning Saturday, temperatures are likely to rise above freezing depending on how much snow falls in the evening, Baker said. Temperatures will continue rising after sunrise, and skies are expected to clear on Saturday.
Hall County government facilities, including the county's three community centers, the Hall County Landfill, Hall County Animal Shelter, compactor sites and libraries will remain closed Saturday, county spokeswoman Katie Crumley said in an email Friday.
Anyone wishing to report ice on the roadway is urged to contact Hall County Dispatch at 770-536-8812.
Hall County Fire Services saw more calls close to noon on Friday but otherwise didn’t see many problems caused by snow at the end of the work week, according to spokesman Zachary Brackett.
Jackson Electric Membership Corp. saw minor power outages on Friday. A car crashed into a power pole in Hall County, knocking about 500 people out of power, according to Jackson EMC spokeswoman April Sorrow. The outage lasted about two hours.
Beyond that incident, Jackson EMC outages have been minor and concentrated Barrow, Jackson and Gwinnett counties.
The Georgia Department of Transportation had more than a dozen trucks with plows in Lumpkin, Union, Towns, Rabun and Habersham counties, according to spokeswoman Katie Strickland.
GDOT was spreading a salt mixture on roadways in metro Atlanta and North Georgia before snow started to fall. Once snow began falling DOT transitioned to plowing on Ga. 75 in White and Towns counties and Ga. 11/U.S. 129.
