Midstate keeping watch on another round of wintry weather

The wintry weather forecasted for this weekend is predicted to stay north of Dublin and Laurens County.

Laurens County Emergency Management Agency Chief Bill Laird said the winter storm is expected to stay above this area, coming as far south as Milledgeville.

“The best thing for us to do is to keep our eyes on the weather predictions and keep watching the forecast,” Laird said. “Right now we have a low risk of freezing rain. They don’t say no risk, just low risk, because there is always a chance. Folks just need to watch reputable new sources and forecast outlets. They need to be prepared just in case we do see something.”

Laird has been on webinars with the National Weather Service in Peachtree City for the last couple of days. He did advise for people to rethink their plans if they call for traveling to the north part of the state.

“They will be hit the hardest and have the highest impact,” Laird said. “If you have any travel plans for that area, you may want to postpone them.” 

When it comes to being prepared, Laird said people should always be ready for all weather events throughout the year.

“You need to be prepared just in case there are power outages,” he said. “You need to have some can foods and things like that that are non-perishable, rather it is boxed foods and a couple of days supplies of water. We may be OK this time, but it could shift south and we could experience some moderate impacts from it. This is weather. Mother Nature goes where she wants to and where she chooses.

“Folks just need to prepare and go ahead and get everything done that you need to have done,” Laird added. “It’d be nice if we could sit home Saturday afternoon and Sunday afternoon and just watch it.” 

Laird admitted that weather forecast has improved during the years. 

“The technology and the different models they use the last several years have gotten fairly accurate,” he said. “The news media, national weather service and local newspaper are the ones to depend on.”

Gov. Brian Kemp announced a state of emergency for all Georgia counties Thursday ahead of a winter storm expected to dump snow and sleet onto the northern third of the state starting Saturday. The governor said he had called up 500 National Guardsmen for deployment, if necessary. State agriculture and forestry crews are prepared with chainsaws to clear the way for power crews.