On this day 30 years ago: Blizzard of ‘93 dumps feet of snow across north Georgia

ATLANTA — Over the last 75 years, WSB-TV has covered some of the wildest weather to hit metro Atlanta and north Georgia area. Perhaps, none were more memorable than the Blizzard of 1993.

Monday marks 30 years since “The Storm of the Century.” While Atlanta saw ice and snow storms before, including Snow Jam 82, this was the first time a blizzard ever hit Atlanta.

Severe Weather Team 2 Chief Meteorologist Emeritus Glenn Burns remembers looking at the computer models and telling his boss he wouldn’t be surprised if we got 30 inches of snow.

“It looked like a hurricane coming into an arctic air mass and I knew what that meant,” Burns recalled.

“They said, ‘Are you sure?’ I said, ‘I’m pretty sure. If the models are right I’m going to be right.’ Of course, we had the storm of the century -- Blizzard of ‘93.”

This year marks WSB-TV’s 75th anniversary. Join us on March 26 for “WSB-TV: 75 Years of Weather” special as Severe Weather Team 2 looks back at the biggest storms to hit Georgia.

Chief Meteorologist Glenn Burns describes the 1993 blizzard Feet of snow fell in Georgia.

Channel 2 Action News covered the massive snowstorm as residents struggled with the “weather typical of Chicago.”

Wind chills reached -30 as the winds were sustained at 40+ mph on that Saturday. Hundreds of thousands of people lost power for days as trees crashed down everywhere.

From Atlanta to Athens and everywhere south, there was recorded 3 to 9 inches of snow on that Saturday. The northern suburbs received 10 to 15 inches of snow. Areas in the north Georgia mountains had anywhere from 12 to 30 inches of snow.

“The snow just continued to come down. And then we had thunder. I had never been through thundersnow in my entire life,” retired Severe Weather Team 2 Meteorologist Karen Minton recalled.

“It was just unbelievable....we did wall-to-wall coverage. I don’t know if we had ever down wall-to-wall coverage like this. We did not go off the air.”

The damage from the powerful storm totaled $70 million. Fifteen people died.

RAW: Meteorologist Karen Minton remembers the 'Blizzard of 93' The Blizzard of 1993 hit 25 years ago on March 13.

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