Special weather statement: Cold air to surge into north and central Ga. today

PEACHTREE CITY - The National Weather Service has issued a special weather statement warning of extremely cold temperatures for the weekend. Forecasters issued the following statement Saturday morning:

AN ARCTIC COLD FRONT WAS ENTERING THE STATE EARLY THIS MORNING FROM THE NORTHWEST. THIS FRONT WILL SWEEP THROUGH ALL OF NORTH AND CENTRAL GEORGIA BY NOON TODAY. SHARPLY FALLING TEMPERATURES AND VERY STRONG,GUSTY NORTHWEST WINDS ARE EXPECTED BEHIND THIS FRONT.

HIGH TEMPERATURES TODAY ARE EXPECTED TO OCCUR THIS MORNING WITH 30S AND 40S ACROSS THE NORTH TO THE LOWER 50S ACROSS CENTRAL GEORGIA. BY AFTERNOON,TEMPERATURES WILL FALL TO NEAR FREEZING IN FAR NORTH GEORGIA AND THE MOUNTAINS,THEN CONTINUE TO FALL INTO THE TEENS NORTH AND WELL DOWN INTO THE 20S CENTRAL AREAS BY EARLY SUNDAY.

STRONG NORTHWEST WINDS OF 15 TO 25 MPH WITH GUSTS OF 35 TO 40 MPH ARE ALSO EXPECTED. THESE WINDS COULD BLOW DOWN SMALL OR WEAK TREES AND TREE LIMBS RESULTING IN SCATTERED POWER OUTAGES. THE COMBINATION OF THE WIND AND COLD TEMPERATURES WILL ALSO RESULT IN SIGNIFICANT WIND CHILL READINGS. WIND CHILL VALUES WILL REMAIN IN THE 20S ACROSS NORTH GEORGIA DURING THE DAY,DROPPING INTO THE TEENS AND SINGLE DIGITS OVERNIGHT. ACROSS CENTRAL GEORGIA, WIND CHILLS WILL FALL INTO THE 30S BY LATE AFTERNOON, AND INTO THE TEENS OVERNIGHT.

THE PREDOMINANTLY MUCH WARMER THAN NORMAL TEMPERATURES THIS WINTER HAS RESULTED IN EXTREMELY PREMATURE BUDDING OF SOME FLOWERS,PLANTS,AND TREES. STEPS SHOULD BE TAKEN TO PROTECT ANY VULNERABLE PLANTS,AS WELL AS OUTDOOR PETS. OUTDOOR WATER FAUCETS SHOULD ALSO BE PROTECTED FROM THE SUBFREEZING TEMPERATURES EXPECTED TONIGHT AND AGAIN SUNDAY NIGHT.

IN ADDITION TO THE WIND AND COLD,SCATTERED SNOW SHOWERS ARE EXPECTED IN FAR NORTH GEORGIA AND THE NORTHEAST GEORGIA MOUNTAINS TODAY,BEGINNING EVEN AS EARLY AS THIS MORNING. THE SHARPLY FALLING TEMPERATURES TO NEAR OR BELOW FREEZING IN THESE AREAS BY AFTERNOON COULD RESULT IN MINOR ACCUMULATIONS,UP TO ONE-HALF INCH OF SNOW,AT THE HIGHER ELEVATIONS,GENERALLY AT OR ABOVE 2500 FEET. GIVEN THE WEATHER PATTERN IN PLACE,THE MOST LIKELY AREAS FOR SNOW ACCUMULATION WILL BE NORTHWEST FACING SLOPES OF THE HIGHER ELEVATIONS IN FANNIN,UNION,LUMPKIN,DAWSON,GILMER,AND PICKENS COUNTIES.

RESIDENTS OF NORTH AND CENTRAL GEORGIA SHOULD CONTINUE TO MONITOR THIS UPCOMING WINTER WEATHER EVENT. A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY MAY NEED TO BE ISSUED FOR THE NORTHEAST GEORGIA MOUNTAINS SHOULD SNOW ACCUMULATIONS BECOME MORE WIDESPREAD AND SIGNIFICANT THAN CURRENTLY EXPECTED.