Uncommon Cold Strikes in Georgia

John Spink/Atlanta Journal-Constitution

An icy fountain in Atlanta, where temperatures have been 20 degrees below normal.

By KIM SEVERSON and ROBBIE BROWN

Published: December 8, 2010

ATLANTA — What people in the South don’t know about cold is a lot.

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When it gets chilly like this — and mind you, 20 degrees is really cold here — morning news anchors remind viewers to wear warm coats, hats and gloves.

It just gets worse with even the hint of snow, which might come in the smallest amounts by Sunday, according to weather forecasters.

“If they say the ‘s’ word on TV, everybody will be immediately running to Kroger or Publix to buy milk, bread and eggs,” said David E. Stooksbury, the state climatologist and a professor of engineering and atmospheric sciences at the University of Georgia. “I figure it means we are supposed to have French toast.”

Like others here, Dr. Stooksbury does not take this cold snap all that seriously.

“Why is it so cold? It’s called winter,” he said.

That is not to say the weather is not unusual. Temperatures are running 15 to 20 degrees below normal, and forecasters predict a particularly cold winter in the Southeast. In Atlanta, for example, people usually Christmas shop in pleasant weather that hovers in the 50s. In south Georgia, the daytime temperature is normally in the 60s.

So nighttime temperatures in the 20s and daytime temperatures barely reaching into the 40s can really mess up a Southerner.

“You barely want to go outside,” said Shannon Hodder, 26, a lawyer from Austell, Ga., who managed to muster the energy Wednesday to jog in a wool hat and three layers of shirts. “It was so beautiful and warm just last week.”

Although the fact that Georgians are freezing their peaches off might be the talk among playground parents and office workers, the real weather story is the drought, climatologists say.

The winter is expected to be drier than normal, Dr. Stooksbury said. Much of the Southeast is already in drought conditions. Last week, the United States Department of Agriculture declared 151 Georgia counties agricultural disaster areas because of dry weather and the summer’s excessive heat. Farmers, estimated by the Agriculture Department to have lost as much as 30 percent of their crops, can now qualify for emergency loans.

Although farmers who grow row crops like cotton, peanuts and corn can irrigate, the drought will be particularly hard on beef and dairy ranchers, who do not generally water their pastures, he said.

But not everyone in Georgia thinks the cold, dry weather is an unwelcome development. In fact, a plumber in south Georgia is embracing the freeze.

“This is the best temperature you can hope for,” said Dave Runyan, 67, who built what he calls the South Georgia Redneck Snowmaker in his backyard last winter, dreaming of just this kind of cold weather.

The machine is built from spare septic tank parts. It blasts several feet of snow across his yard in the oceanfront city of Brunswick, just miles from the Florida border. Children are bringing sleds and inner tubes.

Mr. Runyan said he just did it for fun.

“I don’t get too excited about burst pipes or frozen pipes or having to crawl around in the wet, cold weather,” he said. “But sledding down the side of a hill, I’ll do that any day.”