Hall County officials remain on alert as a winter weather event moves across North Georgia, with several members of law enforcement and local municipalities gathering Saturday afternoon for a special weather briefing issued by the National Weather Service.
Hall County Fire Services Capt. Zachary Brackett says the group gathered at the Hall County Emergency Operations Center at 4 p.m. to hear about the latest predictions, and how the weather event is expected to impact the area.
"We participate anytime the National Weather Service does any type of special weather briefing," Brackett explained shortly after the meeting. "All the county agencies, whether it's fleet maintenance, road maintenance, fire services, EMA , the Sheriff's Office...all those entities come together and watch those, and we review our plans and make sure everyone's on the same sheet of music, so to speak."
The weather briefing revealed that earlier predictions made by the National Weather Service have remained largely unchanged, with forecasters calling for an increased chance of frozen precipitation as temperatures continue to drop late Saturday and into early Sunday morning.
"It doesn't look like a whole lot's changed. Obviously, it's rained all day, so our soil's really wet. We're expecting some higher winds tonight, with gusts anywhere from 30-35 miles per hour, which gives us some concern as far as trees down, power lines down because of trees," Brackett said. "And then we have the frozen precipitation we're expecting to come in early Sunday morning."
With so much uncertainty surrounding current predictions, Bracket said Hall County and Gainesville city officials have been in a constant state of communication, and have partially activated the county's Emergency Operations Center to keep an eye on any new developments in the weather.
"We have software where we're all talking, we can all see what each other is posting, so we have real-time data and information on any roadway impacts, impacts from power outages and things like that throughout the county," he continued. "We'll wait and see how this develops, and if we need to call in more resources and more folks for coordination, we will."
As temperatures drop, Brackett said the fear of dangerous roadway conditions rises.
He asked on behalf of county and city officials that residents stay off the road unless absolutely necessary, and that any incidents - whether accidents, fallen trees, downed power lines, etc. - be reported to the authorities.
Meanwhile, snow began developing in the higher elevations of northeast Georgia Saturday afternoon.
