ATLANTA — It's the coldest New Year's Day in 30 years and the chilly temperatures caught some visitors off guard.
Judy Seaman and her family came up from Central Florida to see UCF Knights take on Auburn in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl. They stopped to take a picture but she told Channel 2's Dave Huddleston they weren't excepting it to be this cold.
“Freezing. We’re from Florida and it is, like ,so cold, but it’s snowing,” Seaman said.
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Game organizers had a lot of activities planned for the game including concerts on stage at Centennial Olympic Park.
Severe Weather Team 2 said this New Year's day is the coldest in almost 2 decades but it didn’t stop the Kowal family who are rooting for Auburn from braving the elements.
“We used to live in Connecticut. We used to live in Maryland, so we were just saying this isn’t Atlanta weather. It’s more like Connecticut weather," said Joan Kowal.
The Peach Bowl will trigger an economic impact north of $60 million. Hotels and restaurants are the biggest winners.
"They went to a New Year's Eve party last night at the Biltmore. We will do something tonight. Nothing planned yet, but we'll visit some of the establishments and the restaurants," said UCF fan Lynn Humphreys.
Businesses outside the city are also getting a boost.
"We stayed in Covington because the hotels where we usually stay 'here' were double and triple the price, maybe because it was New Year's Eve," said Auburn fan Lisa Wheeler.
The Peach Bowl is the biggest game UCF has ever been in.
"This is about to be the second time we've beaten an SEC school in the last 10 years - first Georgia, now Auburn. We're not playing no games out here," said Jarrett Swavy, UCF class of 2012.
UCF capped an unbeaten season by defeating Auburn 34-27.
Cox Media Group
