A white Christmas in Georgia? It’s happened. See historic photos of Columbus snow days
The general probability of snow in the South is very low. It’s even lower here in Georgia with less than one percent of seeing any of the white stuff. Although it’s rare for us to get any winter weather, much less snow, this time of year, it’s not unheard of.
Columbus has seen snow at Christmas only twice, with a trace amount dusting the area in 2010. “Technically, it’s a white Christmas in Columbus,” The Ledger wrote on Christmas night.
Since it’s unlikely we’ll be having any holiday snowball fights anytime soon, we might as well take a look back at some of the times Mother Nature gifted us a white Christmas.
February 1973
In a record-breaking weather event, Columbus saw a whopping 11 inches of snow in one day and 14 inches over the course of a few days.
“Pot-holed roads and highways, scraped and dented cars and residents sporting casts and bandages will be ever-present reminders for weeks to come of the ‘big snow of ‘73,” the Columbus Enquirer wrote.
December 1989
It was almost a white Christmas, but we missed it by just a day. The amount of snow that fell during this storm was fairly insignificant for Columbus, but there were traces of snowfall as far south as northern Florida and coastal Georgia.
Central and east Georgia got between three and five inches over the two-day storm.
March 1993
This was a huge winter-weather event, dubbed the “Blizzard of the Century,” and occurred over a snowy weekend mid-month.
Archival footage from Atlanta’s 11Alive News shows Georgians downright frolicking in the snow.
The Columbus Airport reported up to four inches, with blowing and drifting snow reaching up to a foot in many locations around the area.
December 2000
The two inches that Columbus received on Tuesday, Dec. 19, of 2000 is documented in the snowfall records for the city.
This photo of Columbus is courtesy of Tripadvisor
This storm was part of a larger system that impacted a huge portion of the country, and was significant enough to make national news.
March 2009
In total, Columbus received approximately 6.5 inches in a storm that tracked across Georgia all the way up to Athens.
On March 1, it started as rain and then developed into all snow by late morning and continued to dust Columbus through the end of the weekend.
January 2014
This weather was part of a larger storm, “Winter Storm Leon,” or “Snowpocalypse,” which crippled many southern cities, causing major disruptions and travel issues.
Some Atlanta motorists were stranded on the interstates after road conditions turned treacherous, while others endured brutally long commutes.
December 2017
Ironically, The University of Georgia notes that December of 2017 was one of the warmest in history, yet the storm yielded 12 inches of snow in Georgia.
While the snowfall in Columbus itself was not as heavy as in some other parts of Georgia, it still caused a lot of broken trees and downed power lines across the state. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that up to 365,000 customers lost power due to the storm.
January 2018
Close on the heels of a storm the previous month, Columbus had two significant snow events in January of 2018.
On Jan. 3, the weather event was part of Winter Storm Grayson which produced the most snow in southeastern Georgia. Whatever precipitation the storm dropped didn’t stick in Columbus, but areas like Alma got close to three inches.
Later that month, a second storm delivered a much heavier showing, with the brunt of the snow falling just north of Columbus. Auburn got as much as three inches and residents of Chambers County got close to four inches.
What are some of your favorite snowy moments from Columbus’ history?
Email your fondest memories or send your fun winter pics to srose@ledger-enquirer.com.
This story was originally published December 18, 2024 at 11:53 AM.
