2nd deep-freeze week finally ends

Snow days are fun every once in a while, but they become a headache when icy conditions persist and force closings or delayed openings as Polk County suffered through yet another winter storm.

Temperatures were well below freezing by the time a light layer of snow and ice fell on roadways and forced schools to close for the rest of last week, administrative offices to stop business and kept public safety and public works on guard in what otherwise was an unremarkable winter weather event.

Much of the problem was caused by re-freezing conditions as frigid temperatures followed behind a dusting of snow and freezing rain on Jan. 16, and kept many secondary roads in the area iced over through Thursday.

Gov. Nathan Deal even declared a State of Emergency for much of North Georgia and metro Atlanta following the winter weather event, with some areas even declaring curfews after dark to keep people off the roadways who didn’t need to be out and cut down on emergency situations and vehicles ending up in ditches.

Some of that happened here, but Polk County Public Safety Director Randy Lacey said for the most part local residents stayed off the roads during the worst of the winter storm.

“We were lucky this time,” he said. “If it had hit any earlier we would have ended up with a lot more problems.”

Additionally, the cities and county water departments saw Lady Luck smile down on them since below freezing tempera- tures didn’t cause any major water line breakages.

In fact, Polk County Water Authority General Manager Jack Damron said that so far, his employees are only reporting the usual seasonal issues they encounter with a small number of customers.

Polk County Coroner Tony Brazier also reported no deaths from cold temperatures as well.

The thaw came quick for the weekend as Sunday temperatures were up to the 60s before days end, and rain came with that for the beginning of this week.

Climate models from the National Weather Service are currently showing that warmer than average temperatures are likely for the weeks to come, but don’t expect that forecast to hold for long.

At least for the rest of the week, forecasts are expected to continue with temperatures in the mild range and rain to stick around.

Photos by Kevin Myrick, Standard Journal TOP: Main Street in Cedartown is still iced-over near noon. ABOVE: The sign at Coosa Valley Credit Union signals the end of the colder temperatures in Polk County.

Photos by Kevin Myrick, Standard Journal ABOVE: Most roads in Polk County looked like this following a winter storm moving through overnight, leaving a dusting of snow and icy conditions. RIGHT: Local residents flock to Walmart in Cedartown as snow flurries began to fall to lay in enough...