It has been quite an eventful weather year across North Georgia.
Looking back at the beginning of the year, we kicked it off with plentiful rain across the entire southeastern United States, an unfortunate foreshadowing of what would come nine months later. Locally, we picked up over a foot of rain during the month of January, with several inches of that falling from one dynamic storm system. This system brought flooding and damage locally. Pitts Park in Clarkesville flooded (again) on January 9th, with flood waters reaching several feet above normal.
RELIVE THIS STORY:
This past January was colder than usual. The Cornelia reporting station reached 9 degrees on two consecutive mornings, Jan. 21 and Jan. 22. For the month, we would come in about 0.7 degrees below average. Despite this cold and rain, we continued the snow drought across the southeastern side of the higher elevations. The last snow that fell for almost everyone in Habersham was back in January 2022.
The cold didn’t last long, with a fairly calm but very warm February and March. February was 4.6 degrees above average, and March was 3.8 degrees above average. March was also very wet, with another 7.78″ of rain falling during the month.
April saw no major severe weather threats across the region, which is always good to see. On April 8th, the second of two solar eclipses in just seven years occurred across the United States. Habersham’s Tyler Penland and Joy Purcell traveled to see the eclipse from Illinois and Arkansas, respectively.
Across North Georgia, the eclipse was only partial, but with 90% coverage of the sun, it was still a sight to behold, with families everywhere donning their solar glasses to view the event.
RELIVE THESE STORIES:
May brought storm damage that resulted in school closings on May 9th. These storms began another wet month, with 7.42″ of rain falling at the Cornelia station. The month ran 3.1 degrees above average, the third month in a row of warmer-than-normal temperatures. On May 11th, the sun sent a large flare towards Earth, and for the first recorded time since 2018, aurora were visible across all of North Georgia. This storm was the first G5 storm since 2003 and the seventh strongest solar storm ever recorded.
RELIVE THIS STORY: https://nowhabersham.com/auroras-visit-north-georgia/
We hit 90 degrees for the first time this year in June. Temperatures for the month ran 2.3 degrees above average. July was relatively calm. Cornelia reached its highest temperature of the year—95 degrees—on two days in July, the 6th and 16th. The only big event locally was flooding on July 30th, associated with afternoon thunderstorms that shut down Pardue Mill Road for some time.
Despite a very wet first half of the year, we saw a big change heading into August when only 2.1″ of rain fell across the region. August also ran 2.0 degrees above average, a big trend for the year. September was calm across the region until it wasn’t. Hurricane Helene tore through the Southeast, dropping feet of rain across much of Western North Carolina and knocking out power for weeks in some areas. Here in North Georgia, we were fortunate that the storm turned a bit east, keeping the worst of the weather just across the state line from Greenville, South Carolina, and points north. Despite the worst missing us locally, South Georgia was ravaged, and hundreds of thousands of Georgians experienced power outages.
NC Governor: Unprecedented tragedy will require an unprecedented response
September became our second month of the year with double-digit rain totals of 11.11″ and added yet another column to above average temperatures at 1.6 above. Helene would be the last rain our region would see for a month, though, with a 30-day dry streak setting in from September 29th to October 28th. This dry spell was perfect for the second chance to see Aurora Borealis across North Georgia in October. By the numbers, this solar storm on October 11th was a bit weaker than the one in May, but visibility across the region was spectacular, at least with cell phone cameras.
We would finally see a mere 1/10″ of rain by the end of October. Oh, and you probably guessed it, but October was also above average warmth at 2.5 degrees above.
November turned out to be the warmest month of the year compared to average— an incredible 6.5 degrees above normal. Most of the region saw the first freeze of the season on the 30th.
December finally saw the return of Old Man Winter, with numerous freezes and a handful of high-elevation snowfalls. Through December 20, the month registered just slightly below-average temperatures, giving hope that we will at least bookend the year with below-average months. These cold temperatures came at the expense of some damage from strong winds behind a cold front on December 11th.
Power restored in most areas as strong winds cause outages in North Georgia
2024 will certainly be one for the record books in several areas, including aurora sightings and Hurricane Helene.
What will 2025 bring? We’ll soon find out.
