The National Weather Service was forecasting the Statesboro area’s lowest temperature so far this January, around 18 degrees, for Thursday night to Friday morning, Jan. 15-16. After that, a brief warming trend was expected through Saturday, but then a 50% chance of “rain/snow” was predicted for Sunday.
So, Corey Kemp, Bulloch County’s Emergency Management Agency director, was taking a “one day at a time” approach to any preparations and public notices. For Thursday night he posted a phone number at the county Emergency Operations Center, 912-489-1901, that local people can call if they are unable to find a warm place to stay.
“We will work with community partners to help,” he wrote on the Bulloch County Public Safety and EMA page on Facebook. “The safety and well-being of our community remain our highest priority.”
Mid-afternoon Thursday, the thermometer at the Statesboro-Bulloch County Airport was registering 45 degrees Fahrenheit in the sunshine. Conditions here were described as “fair and breezy” by the NWS office in Charleston, S.C., via www.weather.gov for 30458 and neighboring ZIP codes.
But the website showed a predicted high of 51 for a sunny Friday, followed by around 33 degrees for a low Friday night, a high near 62 on a partly sunny Saturday, and then a low of 36 that night with a 40% chance of showers.
The 50% chance of “rain/snow” for Sunday was forecast along with a high around 43 degrees, well above freezing, before the temperature plummets again to around 23 Sunday night.
“We’ll have the same options for Sunday, but we’re looking at a day shelter for Sunday, just to get the unsheltered people out of the cold wetness that will be coming,” Kemp said.
He wasn’t releasing the location yet but will do so later. One place to find updates with that and other weather-related information will be the “Bulloch County Public Safety and EMA” Facebook page.
“We’re doing one day at a time so people won’t get the messaging mixed up,” he said.
While agreeing that any snow that does fall under Sunday’s expected conditions is unlikely to accumulate, the EMA director gave the standard precautionary advice for area drivers, who seldom have much experience with icy conditions.
“We’re asking the general public to stay home and not try to drive in the wet, icy, wintery mix,” Kemp said.
The initial cold weather advisory the NWS posted as an “urgent weather message” for a swath of southeastern Georgia and southern South Carolina spanned only the coldest night, from 8 p.m. Thursday to 9 a.m. Friday. But the agency also issued a “hazardous weather outlook” statement for the region extending seven days for the same “possible hazardous” condition, “extreme cold” through Wednesday, Jan. 21.