Atlanta’s Snowtastrophe 2017 — the storm that wasn’t

On Friday the predictions were dire. The Atlanta region was under a State of Emergency, Mayor Kasim Reed had called for everyone to be off the streets by 4:30 p.m., schools were shuttered hours early — all in preparation for a predicted 2 to 5 inches of snow.

Given the debacle of January 2014, no one was taking any chances.

As the afternoon progressed into evening, a steady rain fell across the city as temperatures hovered around freezing. In Midtown, small icicles formed on streetlights and railings, but road conditions remained relatively normal, thanks in part to pre-treating by GDOT.

With nightfall, the sporadic rain didn’t turn into snow as the hours ticked by. On Saturday, anyone who awoke hoping for a wintery urban scene was disappointed. The snow never really fell upon Atlanta neighborhoods, though the northern ‘burbs saw a little white stuff.

Nonetheless, a coating of ice downtown and the bone-chilling single-digit wind chill provided a decidedly atypical Atlanta walk on Saturday:

Grid View

• Icicles forming in Midtown, with the Buckhead skyline beyond. Michael Kahn, Curbed
• The quietest Friday evening rush hour ever. Everyone was scared out of downtown early by the threat of winter weather. Michael Kahn, Curbed
• Icicles on a downtown building on Saturday morning. Michael Kahn, Curbed
• A Relay bike share bike in downtown is covered in ice. Michael Kahn, Curbed
• Trees downtown shimmer thanks to a frosty layer. Michael Kahn, Curbed
• Street signs were coated as well. Michael Kahn, Curbed
• Michael Kahn, Curbed
• Michael Kahn, Curbed
• Along Centennial Olympic Park, the scene was downright gorgeous. Michael Kahn, Curbed
• Michael Kahn, Curbed
• Michael Kahn, Curbed
• Snow downtown was limited to a light dusting along the street edges. Michael Kahn, Curbed
• Peachtree Street looked wintery, but that was from the de-icing treatment, not the weather. Michael Kahn, Curbed
• Michael Kahn, Curbed
• While downtown didn’t get an arctic pounding as expected, winter 2017 is just beginning. Michael Kahn, Curbed

With winter 2017 just underway — and with the Blizzard of 1993 having happened in March — there’s a chance this won’t be the last frozen frenzy of the year.

• Atlanta’s expecting snow, so let’s look back on Snowpocalypse 2014 [Curbed]