Does It Snow... (Savannah, White: how much, to buy, to live)

[doa2work]

Does it snow in south Georgia, (Savannah)? If so, how much? If does not please let me know why?

[WanderingImport]

Not really. The last time it snowed here was back in 2002, though it did snow at the airport (west of downtown, further inland) back in November 2006 and downtown got freezing rain, I remember that night since I was working out in it.
The last time anything ACCUMULATED was way back in 1996 when there was a dusting to an inch... the last time any SIGNIFICANT snow accumulated was on christmas of 1989 when the city got around 5 inches, more or less.
The reason it doesn't snow that often? Well... because we're so far south! (Seriously, we're only about a 2 hour drive from the GA/FL border) That and we're under the influence of the Atlantic Ocean, which keeps us warmer than other places in Georgia.

That should answer your questions.

[go falcons]

Wanderingimport is right - it almost never snows down there in that section of the state.
I used to live just a hour or so away from there ( south west ) of Savannah and have memories of a rare snow fall in the late 1980's . Nothing prepares you for the sight of a palmtree with snow on it or a snow plow going down US #1 .

[WanderingImport]

Snow plow, really?? I know Savannah has ONE snow plow but I wasn't aware any other towns in SE Georgia had any. haha

[gaduchman]

They'd need to buy plows for the garbage trucks!

[go falcons]

They had the snow plows come down from the northern counties along the North Carolina state line. I had my first " white Christmas " ever in a place I'd never in a million years expect to have one.

[cityrover]

Don't say never.. last year it snowed in new orleans while atlanta got none.

Savannah gets no snow because it is close to the sea. Typically coastal areas get much milder winters as already mentioned. It takes a lot of cold to push snow out to the water

[irishvanguard]

Inland from Savannah about 100 miles, you will get dusted with snow about every 5-10 years.

[wolverinegma]

I grew up in Savannah--lived there from 1976-1997. It snowed once in 1977 about 3-4 inches--I believe that was in January. Don't remember that one too well--most of what I know about it is from pictures and what I heard growing up. The next time we had even a flake of snow was 9 years later--we had about 1/2" dusting. We were stoked! From then on, we had a dusting here and there, maybe an inch every now and then. The one I remember most was Dec. 22nd-24th 1989. They say we received about 3-4 inches again, but sometimes I think it was more--we had a lot (well, for us anyway). It was still well on the ground Christmas Day because the days before it was well below freezing. In fact, the day it snowed the most (Dec. 23rd), it was a really dry snow--I remember Pat Prokop said the high was 14 degrees and the low was 13. We had to go inside frequently because we were getting small patches of frostbite, but I was a teenager frolicking like a little kid in a candy store.

Ever since I moved to Chattanooga in 1998, there was only one time that I've seen as much snow as we had in Christmas '89--last January. Since I'm now driving through it, driving a family around and stuff like that, I hate it! I live on a hill, and it sucks when you can't drive to your own house. If I could stay in with it snowing like that, no problem. I heard everyone tell me what it was like up here with the Winter Storm of 1993--20 inches and higher snowdrifts. People were without power and using their backyards as refridgerators/freezers. I was still in Savannah then and working that day, but the power was out all over the city, we had tropical storm to hurricane force winds, 5-foot waves in the rivers with dock styrofoam floating everywhere, but only a few flurries.

We're waiting on the snow coming in tonight, so this will be my second White Christmas. Not as much as 1989, but still pretty cool (as long as I don't have to drive--no one here knows how to drive in the snow, including me!).

[SW30303]

Yea, it is pretty cool to see snow late on Christmas day. Definitely a rarity in most of Georgia. Interesting how rare the coastal areas get snow. I had imagined it might be about once a decade or so.