Rough Draft will provide regular storm updates on our website through Monday evening, as well as on our Facebook and Instagram pages. For weather updates, visit WSB-TV.
MARTA service updates • Restaurant closures
Storm-related cancellations • Georgia Power Outage Map
Hartsfield-Jackson flight delays/cancellations • School closures
4:30 p.m.
We’re wrapping up our live blog with a few final news briefs:
All MARTA rail, bus, and paratransit services will resume normal operations tomorrow, Tuesday, Jan. 27, after three days of reduced service due to the weather. All bus routes and rail lines will operate as scheduled. Please visit MARTA for schedules.
Schools, colleges, city offices and state offices are reopening tomorrow, but be sure to check with a particular institution or office to be sure. Some counties, like DeKalb County, reversed their decision on suspending trash pickup and closing offices. Services will resume to normal and all DeKalb offices and programs will resume Tuesday.
And while the ice event is over, very cold air is blowing in tonight and into Tuesday morning, according to WSB-TV. Morning low temperatures will be in the teens in metro Atlanta and around north Georgia, with the north Georgia mountains dropping into the single digits. The wind chill will range from minus-5 degrees to 15, so a cold weather advisory has been issued.
From all of us here at Rough Draft, thank you for relying on us this weekend for our Winter Storm Fern coverage. Thousands of you checked in to our live blogs and our social media. We appreciate your support.
1 p.m.
Atlanta Public Schools, City Schools of Decatur, DeKalb County Schools, and Fulton County Schools will all return to in-person learning tomorrow, Jan. 27, but advised students to dress warmly as temperatures are expected to be in the teens.
While skies today are clearer throughout much of Georgia, extremely cold temperatures across most of the state continue to pose hazards for motorists, according to a media release from the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT). The agency is urging drivers to remain vigilant as refreezing is expected today and into this evening, creating the potential for black ice, especially on bridges, overpasses, shaded areas and elevated roadways. Road treatment operations are continuing in some locations, and GDOT crews will remain on the roads spreading salt and treating hot spots where necessary. The I-75 South Metro Express Lanes will reopen this afternoon for southbound traffic. All other Georgia Express Lanes are being monitored and treated as needed, with reopening timelines to be determined.
11:38 a.m.
MARTA will ramp up its bus service to include 17 high-ridership routes beginning in the noon hour today as road conditions improve. The routes include: 5, 12, 15, 39, 50, 55, 71, 73, 78, 83, 89, 95, 117, 121, 181, 186, and 193. Ten lifeline routes to emergency rooms and medical centers are also continuing to operate: 6, 8, 19, 40, 107, 110, 111, 123, 185, and 196.
Rail service has trains arriving every 10-20 minutes, with the North/South line operating as scheduled. On the East/West lines, the Green Line is operating from Bankhead to Vine City Stations, while the Blue Line is operating from Indian Creek to H.E. Holmes Stations.
The Downtown Streetcar is using a shuttle service on the route with vans arriving every 45 minutes. MARTA Mobility will continue with current bookings for the rest of the day, but no new same-day bookings are being accepted.
Check MARTA for schedules and updates.
11:20 a.m.
There will be no trash collection in DeKalb County today or tomorrow, Jan. 27, according to county officials. Both residential and commercial pickups are suspended because of the weather and dangerous road conditions. Rescheduled service dates will be announced soon.
9:40 a.m.
How much ice did metro Atlanta get over the weekend? Early reports indicate a tenth of an inch to a third of an inch of ice accumulated starting late Saturday and throughout the day Sunday. Those amounts were recorded across areas from DeKalb to central Fulton counties and over to Cobb and Paulding counties, NWS meteorologist Ryan Willis told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
While schools, colleges city and state offices are closed today, many businesses and restaurants are reopening. A couple of notable exceptions are Zoo Atlanta and dining staple The Varsity, which closed all of its locations today, including the original in Midtown. Be sure to check our Instagram story for more closures and openings.
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport posted to social media that has wrapped up its emergency operations related to the winter storm, but encouraged passengers to check with their airlines for flight cancellations and delays.
8:15 a.m.
An ice storm warning remains in effect for several counties (including Fulton and DeKalb) until 10 a.m., according to WSB-TV, but not because of additional precipitation. It’s because of refreezing, especially on secondary, untreated roads. Also, in northeast Georgia, where a glaze of ice remains in trees, gusty winds will create the potential for additional power outages.
With the plummeting temperatures, a cold weather advisory is in effect for Monday for dangerously cold wind chills, which is currently at 8F in Atlanta.
The temperature is expected to briefly rise above freezing this afternoon, before dipping back into the teens overnight.
6 a.m.
Metro Atlanta is waking up to more icy conditions with temperatures in the 20s, which are expected to last through the morning.
Schools and colleges are closed today or have moved to remote learning, while many city and state offices are also closed due to the ongoing effects of Winter Storm Fern.
Georgia Power and Georgia EMC were dealing with 100,000 outages at one point on Sunday afternoon, but the number has now dropped to just over 37,000.
The Georgia Department of Emergency Management urged motorists to stay off the roads and interstates as brine and salt treatments continue.
MARTA said it will continue to run a reduced service today with trains arriving every 20 minutes. All bus routes will remain suspended, with the exception of lifeline routes 6, 8, 19, 40, 107, 110, 111, 123, 185, and 196 to provide direct service to major medical facilities and emergency rooms. Visit itsmarta.com for the latest updates.
According to an AJC report, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport already canceled more than 190 flights into and out of Atlanta for today, according to flight tracking website Flightware.com.