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Ice coating leads to few power, road problems
Todays high is forecast to reach into the 40s
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Trees throughout Gainesville were covered with ice for most of the day Saturday as temperatures hovered around freezing. - photo by Tom Reed

Old Man Winter’s bluster failed to live up to the dire forecasts Saturday, to the relief of emergency officials and disappointment of children.

Isolated patches of black ice could still create some hazardous road conditions this morning, but the thin coating of ice that accumulated along trees and power lines Saturday never reached the levels that can lead to widespread power outages. The 2-to-4 inches of snow accumulation forecast earlier never came close to happening.

A pair of downed power lines in the Murrayville area affecting about 26 customers was the only reported outage in Hall County, officials said.

Hall County Emergency Management Director David Kimbrell said there were no weather-related calls involving wrecks, and only some smaller scattered limbs fell during the day.

In surrounding counties, including White, Dawson and Lumpkin, conditions were similar.

“I think we dodged a bullet,” Lumpkin County Emergency Management Director Don Seabolt said.

An overnight mixture of sleet and rain left about an eighth of an inch of ice accumulation on trees Saturday morning.

The light rain mostly subsided by the afternoon. The National Weather Service’s winter storm advisory expired without incident at 7 p.m. Saturday.

Officials with the National Weather Service office in Peachtree City cautioned that there could be some isolated slick spots on area roads this morning.

“If some roads haven’t dried out yet, there will be some places that do freeze,” meteorologist Vaughn Smith said.

Temperatures are expected to be in the low 20s at daybreak today, with cloudy morning conditions clearing up to sunny skies by the afternoon.

Daytime temperatures should climb well into the 40s with no precipitation expected into the night.

The next chance of rain is Tuesday.