Lots of rain but little snow expected
A flood watch is in effect until Sunday night.
It was this time last year — on Dec. 8 — when Rome was hit by a significant snowfall of close to six inches, but the National Weather Service isn’t anticipating that kind of snow, if any, this weekend. Rain is another story. Meteorologist Kyle Thiem with the National Weather Service in Peachtree City said Friday afternoon things are not expected to be that difficult this weekend, but the Rome area could get as much as 2.5 to 3 inches of rain before the precipitation ends Monday.
Any chance for frozen pre- cipitation will likely come early Monday morning at the back end of the system.
“We could have some snow coming down (Monday morning) with some rain, so it would be a wet snow,” Thiem said. “For that area we are only expecting lows in the mid30s so any snow that does come down will probably melt pretty quickly.”
For snow to fall, temperatures need to be below freezing at virtually every level of the atmosphere.
“As the snow falls through the lower part of the atmosphere, if you have temperatures above 35 degrees at 3,000 feet above the ground, the snow is going to start melting well before it hits the surface,” he said.
Monday morning the atmosphere appears to be setting up right temperature-wise, for some snow to mix in.
Thiem said the Northeast Georgia mountains are more likely to get some snow, because of cold air that is damming up against the mountains.
“We are working on the amounts right now, but we are not expecting them to be too major,” Thiem said. “For the most part probably 1 to 2 inches, some of the peaks may experience a little bit more.”
He said there could be some freezing rain Sunday evening in the mountains.
The rain in Rome could add up to as much as three inches before it all stops Monday, and that could create some flooding problems. In fact, the NWS put parts of Northwest Georgia under a flood watch until 7 p.m. Sunday night.
The heaviest rain is likely to fall between noon and 9 p.m. today.
“Any flood-prone areas are probably going to be susceptible,” Thiem said.
As of late Friday afternoon, the National Weather Service is projecting a crest of the Oostanaula River at 17.3 feet sometime early Tuesday morning. That is 8 feet below flood stage, however the projection could change significantly depending on the rainfall. The Oostanaula in Rome was at 11.7 feet at 2 p.m. Friday.