ATLANTA, Jan. 9 (UPI) -- Georgians were getting a dose of nasty winter weather Sunday night with forecasters calling for up to 5 inches of snow in some parts of the state.
Atlanta's WSB-TV reported Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue's last act as governor before giving way to Nathan Deal Monday morning was to declare a state of emergency Sunday night as the storm bore down on Atlanta.
Hundreds of flights were canceled at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in advance of the winter storm, WSB-TV said.
The TV station said sleet and snow had snarled traffic on Atlanta's main downtown arteries. The storm was expected to mean canceled classes for many schools and force some businesses to close.
"This storm system will bring us a significant amount of snow and ice," meteorologist Brad Nitz said.
Varying amounts of snow were predicted with areas north of the city expected to get 4-5 inches and those to the south only 1 to 2 inches forecast.
A Georgia Power official said the utility had employees on stand-by to prepare for potential mass power outages.
"In an ice storm, customers should be prepared for the possibility of widespread outages and possibly extended outages. We recommend that they do whatever they need to be prepared for that," Georgia Power's Mike Williams said.
DOT crews totaling 200 people are on-call in the Atlanta metro area and several hundred more across the state, DOT spokesman Mark McKinnon said.
Ice accumulations of one-quarter to one-half inch are possible in some areas, forecasters said.
"Snow we can plow, the ice we can't," McKinnon said. "People need to be aware that it's going to be treacherous."
The storm is the same one that triggered severe thunderstorms and torrential rain over Texas on Friday night, Accuweather.com reported.
Temperatures are expected to drop into the 20s across much of the Deep South Sunday night and Monday night, Accuweather said.
