Dangerous travel conditions expected Wednesday morning, Dalton, Whitfield, Murray public schools closed

Published 4:22 pm Tuesday, January 16, 2018

While public works crews salted and brined major roads throughout Whitfield and Murray counties Tuesday, a Chattanooga meteorologist said the biggest impact from the snow that pushed through should come Wednesday morning. Dalton Public, Whitfield County and Murray County schools said their schools would be closed Wednesday.

All campuses of Georgia Northwestern Technical College will be closed on Wednesday also.  All classes and activities are canceled for the day.

WDEF-News 12 chief meteorologist Patrick Core said the plummeting temperatures overnight will make for a dangerous start to the morning.

“It won’t be a snowstorm that we see, but it will be an accumulating snow,” Core said, predicting the area would get around an inch of accumulation. “What makes matters worse is temperatures will drop dramatically (Tuesday night) into the teens and the single digits and that is kind of the caveat. We may have the threat of flash freezing, and travel will be treacherous (Wednesday morning).”

Core said it won’t be major roadways that are most dangerous but those closer to home.

“Where you are going to see problems are on back roads and subdivisions and hills and even just on your driveway,” he said.

The snow and rain/sleet mix that was expected throughout the evening isn’t going to be going anywhere Wednesday morning as Core said lows were expected to drop into the low teens throughout most of the area and into the single digits at higher elevations. Wind chills in all areas will be below zero Wednesday morning.

Snow showers reached downtown Dalton shortly after 3 p.m. on Tuesday. The weather affected local school systems, governmental offices, colleges and all school extracurricular activities.

The Dalton City Council meeting scheduled for Tuesday was rescheduled to Monday, Feb. 5. Agenda business items will be moved to that meeting.

The city of Varnell meeting scheduled for Tuesday was rescheduled to Tuesday, Jan. 23, at 6 p.m. The council will hold the second hearing on the 2018 proposed budget. There will be a work session at 5:45 p.m.

Whitfield County Schools, Dalton Public Schools and Dalton State College canceled all classes and activities for Tuesday. Georgia Northwestern Technical College closed all campus locations at noon, and Murray County Schools and Christian Heritage School dismissed classes early.

Whitfield County government closed all non-emergency office buildings at noon Tuesday and those non-emergency offices will open at 10 a.m. Wednesday. North Georgia Health District offices in Dalton and health departments in Murray and Whitfield counties closed early as well.

Other school officials said they are studying the effects of the weather on Tuesday and hoped to make a decision on classes for Wednesday as soon as possible.