Chattooga County woke up to some extremely cold temperatures this morning with readings across the county in the teens.  That may be some good news.  The temperatures today are not expected to get above the freezing mark, which means that when the winter precipitation starts this evening it should be in the form of snow – not sleet or freezing rain.

AM 1180 spoke this morning with forecasters at The Weather Channel who said that the cold temperatures combined with dry conditions right now mean that when the precipitation makes its way into Northwest Georgia it might take some time for the snow to actually start reaching the ground through the dry atmosphere.  Jason Beck with the Weather Channel said, "the atmosphere is SO dry right now, it will take a while when it starts falling to saturate the air enough for it to reach the groundso what you’ll see on radar tonight won’t all be reaching the ground at first."  Estimated times for the precipitation to start this evening are between 7 PM and 9 PM.

Heavy snow is expected throughout the evening and into Monday morning.  That is when things could get interesting.  Jason Beck with The Weather Channel said, "the real trick is going to be if we stay all snow in Chattooga County on Monday. There could be some warmer air aloft work its way in and change us over to some sleet or freezing rain."  Beck said that could spell trouble, but right now it still appears that most of the precipitation will remain snow.

Middle and South Georgia are bracing for a severe ice storm. 

Stay tuned to AM 1180 Chattooga County Radio for continuing updates from the National Weather Service, The Weather Channel and local officials throughout the day Sunday and into Monday.