Cobb DOT crews will begin to treat major roads in the county before Winter Storm Fern makes its way through the Southeast Saturday.
Cobb County was added to a ice storm warning area Friday, with a quarter-inch to an inch of ice possible through north and central Georgia.
Some forecast maps have East Cobb in an area with ice accumulations projected to be between a quarter-inch and a half-inch.
Rain is expected to begin falling by Saturday evening and will continue through the weekend as temperatures fall below freezing.
The warning period begins Saturday at 1 p.m. and continues to 10 a.m. Monday, with the brunt of the storm coming through late Saturday night and early Sunday morning.
Many events have been canceled and church and government closures have been announced, some through all day Monday.
Cobb County School District extracurricular events have been called off for Saturday and Sunday and a decision on Monday classes and activities is expected by Sunday afternoon.
Citizens are asked to complete their pre-storm preparations, including food shopping, fueling and safety measures, by Saturday morning.
Related coverage:
- East Cobb closings/cancelations: Government, churches, businesses, events
- Cobb school district cancels weekend extracurricular activities
- Cobb included in winter storm watch area; Ga. emergency declared
Cobb DOT director Drew Raessler said Friday that brine pre-treating will take place on major roads first, with the priority to have to those routes available for first responders answering service calls and for road and utility crews to do cleanup work.
Cobb officials said Friday that brining will begin on Saturday, with round-the-clock maintenance crews on hand until the roads are passable.
As the ice accumulates Saturday into Sunday, Raessler said, the roads will then be treated with a salt-gravel mix “throughout the night, and they will be working 24 hours, until the weather breaks.”
With ice accumulations and wind gusts likely to contribute to power outages and downed trees, “being able to keep those roads open is especially important,” he said.
Cobb DOT will be using a new brining machine that can pump out 10,000 gallons of brine an hour, increasing the available supply significantly. The department also will be employing portable road temperature sensors to supplement stationary sensors to help determine where to apply necessary treatment.
“Stay home if you don’t need to get out,” said J.D. Lorens, the Cobb DOT deputy director. “Don’t put yourself in a position where you have to be rescued from a local road.”
The Cobb Emergency Management Agency said in a social media posting Friday that “many side streets, subdivisions, private drives, etc., will not be treated so the risk of sliding off the road or being in an accident is still very high.”
Saturday’s high will be in the low 40s, and temperatures will begin dropping by late afternoon as the precipitation arrives.
There’s a 100 percent chance of rain and freezing rain Saturday night, with lows in the high 20s.
Overnight Sunday is when the storm is forecast to make its way through Cobb. Another 100 percent chance of rain is on tap for Sunday, with highs only in the high 30s.
The chance of rain will drop to 50 percent by Sunday night, but so will the temperatures, with lows in the low 20s to high teens.
Monday will be sunny and clear, with highs around 32, and lows could drop into the single-digits Monday night.
Tuesday also will be sunny but not much warmer, with highs in the mid 30s and lows around 20.
For more local weather information, click here.
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