Cold Temps This Weekend Not a Record
This weekend, the Atlanta area measured the lowest temperatures in nearly two years. Here in Lawrenceville, we got down to 17.6 degrees early Saturday morning, while at Hartsfield Airport, the temperature dropped to 19 degrees. The last time the temperature dropped below was back on January 24th, 2005, with a low of 14.6 degrees.
The weather service in Peachtree City says that temperatures dropped to 5 degrees in Blairsville this morning, which is believable, and to two degrees in Thomaston — between Columbus and Macon, which is not.
The low temperatures bring to mind a discussion that has been going on among the people that decide the plant hardiness zones. Georgia is split between zone 8, which sees winter low temperatures between 10 and 20 degrees, and zone 7, where lows range between zero and 10. Atlanta is in zone 7B, defined as seeing a low temperature between 5 and 10 degrees each winter.
It’s a big deal to gardeners, since there are many plants that will survive with temperatures as low as 20 degrees, but will die if the temperatures drop to 10. We may very well see a change in hardiness zones sometime in the near future to reflect this. (The real problem with plant survival in Atlanta is the humidity and temperatures over 70 degrees on summer nights, which is a discussion for another day.)
At any rate, temperatures below 30 degrees may be few and far between for the next ten days or so, as we see a bit of a warm spell for December. Increased moisture due to a southerly flow of the jet stream will bring temperatures spanning only 20 degrees or so, from the 40s to the 60s, as opposed to the 35 to 40 degree change between morning lows and afternoon highs we’ve seen so far this month. The moisture is also likely to bring some welcome rainfall, beginning as soon as Tuesday afternoon.
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