Georgia Power, which had warned of outages due to ice, falling trees or other weather-related causes, sent crews from South Georgia to help and has backup to call on elsewhere.

The snow reached Atlanta around 7 a.m. Friday. It was the most widespread snow the metro area has seen since January 2018, with just over 2 inches in Atlanta and about 3 inches in other parts. The night before the snowfall, forecasts indicated that only half an inch of snow would remain.

The National Weather Service said Saturday that wind gusts of up to 25 mph and rising temperatures this afternoon would help melt snow and dry out roads.

Slick roads and black ice could continue to be a problem Sunday morning, but afternoon high temperatures will be around 40 degrees above freezing, meaning most of the ice is expected to melt.

“While roads will improve somewhat, not all roads may clear, particularly in shaded areas,” the weather service said of Sunday’s conditions.

ExploreLive Updates: Snow Covers Metro Atlanta: Live Updates Summary

Slippery roads, accidents and stranded drivers

Since the 2014 debacle known to history as the “Snowpocalypse” or “Snowmageddon,” in which just over two inches of wintry precipitation shut down the city for days, Atlanta has gotten significantly better at weathering the weather.

As of Thursday, Atlanta streets had already been treated with about 20,000 gallons of brine, Mayor Andre Dickens said. The Georgia Department of Transportation began repaving nearly 20,000 lane miles of roads in central and north Georgia on Wednesday. The agency again salted interstate and state routes Friday evening because of ice Saturday.

At 6 p.m. Saturday, GDOT spokesman Scott Higley said they would decide whether to salt the roads again for Sunday.

“It will be based on a number of factors such as road moisture content, air temperature, road surface temperature and wind factor,” Higley said.

In Gwinnett County, bus service was suspended Saturday and officials said it would not resume until Monday.

MARTA bus service was also suspended Saturday morning due to road conditions. Officials said key bus routes could resume once safety conditions were assessed and that public rail services would operate on their weekend schedule.

Regional school systems, businesses and local governments proactively announced Friday’s cancellations, and government officials urged drivers to stay off the roads. Most did so and traffic was significantly less. Still, just hours after Friday’s snowfall, police reported several accidents and stranded drivers in Gwinnett, DeKalb, Cobb and Fulton counties.

The weather on the way

Sunny skies return Sunday as metro Atlanta crosses the last of the muddy roads, but dangers could remain in some areas. Anything that didn’t evaporate on Saturday will be dangerous on Sunday morning due to overnight temperatures below freezing.

“One factor that will work against us on Sunday morning is the very cold temperatures forecast for early Sunday, which will make it very difficult to prevent ice from forming if the roads are still wet from melting precipitation on Saturday and Saturday evening,” Higley said.

After Sunday, the metro will be mostly dry, but it will still be cold.

Lows are expected to stay in the mid to high 20s overnight and highs will be in the 40s through at least Wednesday. After Thursday, lows in Atlanta will reach at least the 30s and highs will climb into the 50s.

Power outages occur on some of the coldest days

Across North Georgia, outages increased early Friday evening and into Saturday morning due to heavy ice accumulation on power lines and tree limbs, as well as other weather-related causes. Around 8 a.m., Georgia Power reported that more than 77,000 customers were without power. Georgia EMC’s numbers are now over 6,700.

Georgia Power said icy roads and winds create difficult conditions for power line repairs.

“We know how important energy is, especially in this cold weather. “Know that we are committed to working safely and as quickly as possible to restore your power,” the agency said.

Cobb EMC, which provides power to customers in Cobb, Bartow, Cherokee, Fulton and Paulding counties, said it expects power to be restored by Saturday, but acknowledged that “the number of outages will vary depending on wind conditions and additional.” ice formation could potentially increase.”

A stationary airport

Those who had hoped to travel by plane were suddenly stranded at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport as airlines canceled hundreds of flights. Delta Air Lines confirmed Friday that further flight disruptions were possible through Saturday as it worked to recover from more than 1,000 flights already canceled.

The cancellations were due to snowy and icy runways that crews had to de-ice before planes could take off and land, traffic jams caused by delayed flights and an evacuation on Friday after a Delta plane had an engine problem.

According to FlightAware, Delta’s cancellations at Hartsfield-Jackson on Saturday included more than 245 cancellations of departures or arrivals in Atlanta across its network, representing about 20% of its Atlanta schedule. Frontier, Spirit, American and Southwest also canceled some of their flights in Atlanta for Saturday.

ExploreHundreds of Delta flights were canceled Saturday after a winter storm hit Atlanta

Tay Williams wanted to go to Los Angeles to take a cruise, but his flight was canceled after he arrived at the airport on Friday. He planned to sleep in the terminal to try to catch his rebooked flight Saturday morning.

“We have no choice,” he said. “And it’s snowing outside, so we don’t want to go back on the road like that.”

There was fun before the ice

At Piedmont Park, some locals pulled out their skis and snowboards, while others improvised with items they found near their homes. Before dawn on Saturday, discarded cardboard boxes, broken plastic sleds and scattered makeshift boogie boards now litter the park’s famous hills.

And all over Atlanta, snow angels and snowmen remained every few blocks.

ExploreBig cold means big fun as some Atlanta residents are enjoying the snow day

Few businesses opened Friday morning, but many residents near Buckhead Village strolled through the winter wonderland with coffee in hand. Cody Aminus, manager of The Salty Donut near the Buckhead Theater, said she arrived at the store around 5 a.m. before the snow began. At first there were no customers in sight. And then things got even busier than a normal Friday.

“Everyone came in and said, ‘I saw someone with a coffee cup,’ and then I started getting a line out the door after the real snow stopped and the sun came up, and I’ve been busy ever since,” , she said.

A Waffle House on Holcomb Bridge Road in Roswell was surprisingly busy Friday morning, despite only serving a limited menu typically reserved for emergencies. Fitness trainer Andi Dunlop, who is training to climb Kilimanjaro in July, hiked about a mile through the cold snow with her husband to grab some breakfast.

On the Atlanta Beltline’s Eastside Trail, Joslyn “JoJo” Caldwell wore a pink snowsuit as she walked with her parents Whitney and Jesse. It was the first snowfall of the two-year-old’s life and she enjoyed it and wanted nothing to do with the stroller her parents were pushing.

“(JoJo) asked, ‘Are we going to build a snowman?'” Whitney Caldwell said. “‘Are we going to make snow angels?'”