Weather advisories and storm warnings on Friday signaled the coming of a winter storm that loomed over the region.
Chattanooga was projected to receive between 1 and 3 inches Friday night, the National Weather Service said. Meanwhile, mountainous regions in North Georgia and East Tennessee on the North Carolina border were expected to get 2 to 5 inches overnight, according to WRCB-TV chief meteorologist Paul Barys.
“The biggest swath of accumulating snow will be south of Chattanooga, and the best chance will be in the mountains of Georgia, extreme east Tennessee, and North Carolina,” he said.
Any snow accumulation could cause significant traffic problems through the weekend, especially with temperatures well below freezing until Monday.
Temperatures in Chattanooga this morning are expected to plummet to 17 degrees and gusts will drive the wind chill into the single digits, according to the National Weather Weather Service in Morristown, Tenn. The low will fall to 12 degrees on Sunday.
Derek Eisentrout, a meteorologist for the NWS, said freezing temperatures will almost be more of a concern than whatever precipitation falls.
“It could have significant travel impacts,” Eisentrout said. “Temperatures are below freezing, have been below freezing and will remain below freezing through the weekend.”
“Anybody outside is going to have issues with hypothermia and frostbite,” he said. “So don’t travel if you don’t have to.”
In anticipation of the storm, schools were closed on Friday in Hamilton, Walker and Dade counties, among many others throughout the area.
Schools in metro Nashville-Davidson County remained open Friday as the snow started to fall. The Tennesseean reported at least half a dozen school bus crashes occurred in the morning, though there were no injuries.
Several inbound and outbound flights with Delta and American Airlines at the Chattanooga airport also were canceled Friday, mirroring a much larger string of 247 flight cancellations at the Atlanta airport that afternoon.
Mountain-dwellers should be the most prepared to deal with the aftereffects of an overnight snowfall, but most regions in Georgia should also be wary after a potential 1 or 2 inches of accumulation throughout the state, according to Barys.
City leaders in Atlanta especially were on high alert Friday, thinking about a snow storm in 2014 that left motorists stranded on the freeways there overnight.
Schools, companies and governments dismissed students and workers early to avoid a repeat of the 2014 storm when thousands of commuters left at nearly the same time, according to The Associated Press.
“Our goal, including the goal of the state, is to have everyone off metropolitan Atlanta roadways by 4 p.m.,” Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed said.
Officials said snow-removal trucks and dozens of road workers from south Georgia were moved north to help clear roads and many workers were on 12-hour shifts to cope with the storm.
Ahead of the severe winter weather, Amy Maxwell, spokeswoman for Hamilton County Emergency Services, sent out a news release reminding people to take extra safety precautions as the temperature dropped.
“Never use a stove or oven to heat your home,” she wrote in the release. “Make sure your fireplace is cleaned and checked for summer critters before starting a fire.”
She did not caution against using space heaters, but did say it was important to follow basic safety guidelines.
“If you are using a space heater, place it on a level, hard surface and keep anything flammable at least 3 feet away [from] things such as paper, clothing, bedding, curtains or rugs,” she said. And, she added, “turn off space heaters before leaving the room or going to bed.”
Contact staff writer Emmett Gienapp at egienapp@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6731. Follow on Twitter @emmettgienapp.