Coldest blackberry winter ever

(Sautee) – Here in Georgia, we often get cold snaps in mid-Spring and they usually occur when the wild Blackberry bushes are in full bloom.

Here in White County, we have had an abundance of Blackberry blossoms on the vines this year…and along with them, we have had an “abundance” of record-breaking early morning low temperatures!

Altogether over the past six mornings, two of our three official weather stations have recorded a total of 10 all-time low temperatures. On the whole, our low temperatures averaged out to 36 very chilly degrees which are 12 degrees below the normal minimum temperature of 48 degrees.

Just to illustrate how unusual this cold outbreak is, Tuesday morning’s low temperature in Sautee was 37 degrees. But in Anchorage, Alaska, the low temperature was 44 degrees!

While some mild cold temperatures are not unusual this time of year, the current outbreak is very unusual. Late last week, there were major changes in the upper-level jetstream (known as the Polar Vortex) over the Arctic regions, these jetstream anomalies sent a major high-pressure system barreling through America’s Midwestern and northeastern states and headed southeast into Georgia, bringing much cold Arctic air which lowered temperatures well below normal.

This system is gradually weakening and moving slowly eastward into the North Atlantic and more seasonal temperatures will return over the next few days.

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