All smiles amid the snowflakes — with a chance of more to come

Kimberly Williams (left), 17; Joanna Mathis, 13; and Santonya Mathis, 16, walk in snow flurries Friday on Glenwood Avenue in Atlanta. Flurries and wintry mix were reported all over the metro area Friday morning, including in Cherokee, Cobb, DeKalb, Fulton, Gwinnett and Paulding counties, according to Channel 2 Action News. Areas from Atlanta, the northern suburbs and into the northeast Georgia mountains saw snowflakes. There is another chance of wintry mix and snow showers this morning. The cold air came in on the heels of a weather system that battered the region with severe storms and wind much of Thursday.

It was a tornado that hit a Gordon County street, damaging multiple homes and leaving a path of destruction, the National Weather Service said Friday.

An EF-0 tornado with 85-mph winds touched down in southern Gordon County at 5:28 a.m. Thursday, according to the Weather Service. Nearly a dozen large trees were uprooted and the roof was blown off a manufactured home.

No one was injured when the storm hit the Plainview community, but there were close calls.

Dale Hogan, who lives on East Plainview Road, said Friday he has lived in the area all his life, and this was the closest he has been to where a tornado touched down. Like his neighbors, Hogan said the early morning storm was a scary wake-up call no one was expecting. Fortunately, his home wasn’t damaged, though some of his trees were uprooted.

“There was nobody hurt, that was the good thing,” Hogan said.

On Friday, Weather Service investigators met with Gordon County emergency management leaders to assess the damage.

“According to the survey that was conducted, it was determined by the National Weather Service that the damage was caused by a tornado,” the Gordon County Emergency Management Agency posted on Facebook.

Storms rolled through North Georgia and metro Atlanta on Thursday, dumping several inches of rain and bringing powerful winds that brought down trees and power lines. Numerous roads were blocked because of standing water, and thousands of homes were temporarily without electricity.

Late Friday, Georgia was preparing for the next weather event: the possibility of snow.