Jan 17-18 Sunday Funday Storm

[suzook]

Its definitely over for me. Didn't even get the white rain I was expecting. I see the clear skies just to my west. I figured my area really wasn't in position for snow, but glad central GA is getting some good snow. Hopefully some in the Carolinas can cash in when the cold arrives.

[GaWx]

Snow has started in Milledgeville, GA:

8AM:
MILLEDGEVILLE* LGT SNOW 36 34 93 NW7G15 30.10R FOG WCI 30

 

 

 

[WXNewton]

 

From my father-in-law in Destin FL. Two years in a row now we are getting skunked by parts of FL. 

[GaWx]

0815 AM SNOW 3 WNW FLAT ROCK 32.56N 84.91W  
01/18/2026 M1.5 INCH MUSCOGEE GA PUBLIC  

PUBLIC REPORT ON SOCIAL MEDIA OF 1.5 INCHES  
OF ACCUMULATION ON THE NORTHEAST SIDE OF  
COLUMBUS NEAR THE MAPLE RIDGE AREA.

 

 

 

[WinstonSalemArlington]

Snowing in Macon 

[WXNewton]

From my cousin in Greensboro GA just NE of Macon.

[GaWx]

1.5” in Thomaston, GA!

0828 AM SNOW THOMASTON 32.89N 84.33W  
01/18/2026 M1.5 INCH UPSON GA BROADCAST MEDIA  

REPORT OF 1.5 INCH OF SNOW IN THOMASTON.

[LithiaWx]

Locust Grove, GA

[Shack]

32deg and still coming down pretty good here in Macon. 

I haven't measured but I'd say 1" on elevated surfaces. 

Roads about to give in.

[GaWx]

0822 AM SNOW DE FUNIAK SPRINGS 30.72N 86.12W  
01/18/2026  M0.5 INCH WALTON FL TRAINED SPOTTER

PICTURE VIA SOCIAL MEDIA OF MEASUREMENT.

[CentralNC]

4 minutes ago, Shack said:

32deg and still coming down pretty good here in Macon. 

I haven't measured but I'd say 1" on elevated surfaces. 

Roads about to give in.

IMG_7453[1].MOV

Congrats dude

[GaWx]

 It appears per radar that Augusta might be about to get hit hard with something!
 

Meanwhile:

2” reported at Byron, GA! (Just WNW of Warner Robbins)

0830 AM SNOW 2 N POWERVILLE 32.63N 83.79W  
01/18/2026 E2.0 INCH PEACH GA PUBLIC  

AN ESTIMATED 2 INCHES OF SNOW FELL AT HAYES  
CT IN BYRON.

—————

*Edit: Wow, what a correction downward at Byron, GA, from 2” to 0.5”:

1013 AM SNOW 2 N POWERVILLE 32.63N 83.79W  
01/18/2026 E0.5 INCH PEACH GA PUBLIC  

CORRECTS PREVIOUS SNOW REPORT FROM 2 N  
POWERVILLE. AN ESTIMATED 0.5 INCH OF SNOW  
FELL AT HAYES CT IN BYRON.

[cbmclean]

12 hours ago, Coach McGuirk said:

The warm air seems to stick around longer than expected on the surface.  The same way freezing temps stick around longer than expected. 

Congrats GA peeps!

[GaWx]

Biggest winner so far: 3” at Monticello, GA!

0908 AM SNOW MONTICELLO 33.30N 83.68W  
01/18/2026 M3.0 INCH JASPER GA BROADCAST MEDIA  

REPORT FROM MEDIA OF 3 INCHES OF SNOW IN  
MONTICELLO.

*Edit: later corrected down by NWS to 2” from 3”.

[eyewall]

RDU went up a degree in the past hour. We are definitely cooked. Congrats to the GA folks.

[Leesville Wx Hawk]

Yep,  looks like Eric was right after all.

[kvegas-wx]

Cold chasing moisture never works out.  (Except in southern GA I guess)  

Congrats ya'll!!

[1bert1]

 It appears per radar that Augusta might be about to get hit hard with something!          Yeah, I am 20 miles north of Augusta and it is finally changing over to snow.

[EarlGrey]

Congratulations to the GA peeps. Just a cold rain here. 

[GaWx]

Radar is quite impressive in a band in GA centered from Albany/Tifton to Dublin to Augusta.

[gamecockinupstateSC]

Snow is falling in the Southern Upstate of SC. Greenwood and Abbeville social media reports rain has changed to snow. 

[kvegas-wx]

Looks like the NC peeps all the way west to Hickory will see some brief mood flakes on the back edge as we head into the noon hour.

[Isopycnic]

I saw a few flakes in chapel hill, nc. 

[suzook]

That rain/snow line moving east could be a quick inch or 2 for SC. Don't give up yet.

[GaWx]

 I read that it just changed to all snow at Dublin, GA. The radar looks good, too, regarding what’s falling/coming there.

 I just read 2” was measured 20 miles ESE of Macon at Jeffersonville near I-16!

[WxWatcher007]

Congrats to everyone getting snow today 

[GaWx]

Biggest I’ve seen so far: 2.5” Cuthbert, WNW of Albany, GA!

0932 AM SNOW CUTHBERT 31.77N 84.79W  
01/18/2026 M2.5 INCH RANDOLPH GA BROADCAST MEDIA  

AVERAGE OF SNOWFALL FROM SEVERAL  
MEASUREMENTS.

[marsman]

Back and forth 42-43F since last night.

[El Kabong]

2 hours ago, GaWx said:

 @El Kabongin Perry is getting moderate snow now and it may get even heavier shortly. Americus has been getting accumulating snow for awhile. Radar suggests corridor centered from Cordele (shortly) northeast to Dublin (within an hour?) will probably be getting hit hard!

Yes, Larry. We definitely had a couple of rounds of moderate to borderline heavy snow. Changeover happened just before 8 AM so we ended up with about a two hour window of snowfall. 3/4” appears to be the final total here in Perry. Still snowing lightly, but shouldn’t add much to the accumulations as the back edge is knocking on our door.

Yesterday’s warm temperatures definitely created a challenge for accumulations. Our high yesterday was 62°!

[cbmclean]

41 minutes ago, Leesville Wx Hawk said:

Yep,  looks like Eric was right after all.

As I mentioned yesterday it's frustrating how condescending and arrogant he can be, but he knows his stuff.  He's also from Parkton (near Fayetteville, NC) so he had a whole childhood to ponder SE snow fails.  That said I think it speaks well of NC weather weenies in general in that many of us, including many of us on this forum, knew that this was very unlikely to pan out and reacted accordingly.  

This is actually a very interesting case of NWP failure.  We rightly disparage the GFS, but in this case I'd say it had the overall idea more correct that the Euro on average.  Yeah the GFS bounced around like a drunk person playing Mariocart but the rock-solid Euro was rock solid wrong in the sense that it was showing no snow because it never brought the precip back NW until the very end.  And when it did, it showed the same phantom snow that the GFS did.  The NAM suite was so lost and will probably insist I got snow six hours after the storm is past.  Oddly, the usually snow-happy CMC was probably the miost consistently correct at range in that it long showed a warm NW track.

I would love to have a long convo with a NWP expert to try and understand why the models always overestimate the speed of cold fronts in general, and always fail to resolve the Apps specifically.