First Snow and Ice, Now Severe Weather is Possible in North Georgia

First snow and ice. Now this?

This is what you get with February weather in Georgia.

A week after wintry weather closed schools, businesses and government offices for several days all around metro Atlanta and North Georgia, the National Weather Service says severe thunderstorms may be at our doorsteps by Friday morning.

In a Hazardous Weather Outlook statement, the NWS said there is a slight risk of severe thunderstorms and isolated tornadoes when a squall line moves through central and north Georgia.

The timing, according to the weather service, is for the squall line to move into northwest Georgia between midnight and 2 a.m., across metro Atlanta by sunrise, then through central Georgia by noon.

The greatest threat for the strongest storms is north of a line from LaGrange, to Atlanta, to Gainesville, according to the weather service.

The storms are in advance of a strong cold front that will drop high temperatures from the 70s on Thursday to the 50s on Friday.

Here’s an excerpt from the NWS weather statement, Thursday, Feb. 20:

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF NORTH AND CENTRAL GEORGIA..TODAY AND TONIGHT... SLIGHT CHANCE OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS TONIGHT...  WEATHER HAZARDS EXPECTED...DAMAGING WINDS FROM A POSSIBLE SQUALL LINE WILL BE THE MAIN THREAT TONIGHT. ISOLATED TORNADOES ARE ALSO POSSIBLE.  DISCUSSION...  A LINE OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL DEVELOP AHEAD OF A COLD FRONT AND PUSH ACROSS NORTH AND INTO CENTRAL GEORGIA LATE TONIGHT. ESTIMATED TIMING OF A POTENTIAL SQUALL LINE IS INTO NORTHWEST GEORGIA BETWEEN MIDNIGHT AND 2 AM... THE ATLANTA METRO AREA BETWEEN 3 AM AND 5 AM... THEN ACROSS CENTRAL GEORGIA THROUGH NOON ON FRIDAY. STRONG WIND SHEAR AND MODERATE INSTABILITIES WILL LIKELY SUPPORT ISOLATED STRONG TO SEVERE STORMS TONIGHT. THE GREATER SEVERE WEATHER THREAT WILL BE MAINLY NORTH OF A LA GRANGE TO ATLANTA TO GAINESVILLE LINE... AND MAINLY BETWEEN MIDNIGHT AND 6 AM FRIDAY MORNING. ALL INTEREST ACROSS NORTH AND CENTRAL GEORGIA SHOULD CLOSELY MONITOR THIS POTENTIALLY DANGEROUS WEATHER SYSTEM AS IT DEVELOPS TODAY AND PUSHES INTO THE AREA TONIGHT.