Weather questions..! (Atlanta, Avera: home, college, allergies)

[MarketingGuy]

Coming from Tampa, curious how different weather is.

Does Atlanta experience all four seasons? Or just 1.5 like Tampa?

How often does Snow reach the ground? How long are the summers?

I know kind of broad questions depending on what parts of the city, etc, but all stuff I'm very curious about.

[lorilove]

We do experience all 4 seasons. On average here is how I would describe them. Note we have had more extremes over the past couple of years. I moved here Ft Lauderdale (20 years ago), originally from Orlando, my mom moved here last year:

Summer starts late May with July and August pretty miserable (Hazy, Hot and Humid), September starts to cool off at night and average temps start going down during the day.

Fall starts in late September (hit or miss), October and early November are very nice. It is possible to have a cold snap in late November. In the metro area, leaf watching peaks the first week of November.

Winter starts mid December although we have had cold snaps earlier and mild temperatures on Christmas Day. January and February are pretty weary (cold and rainy). On average snow is not that common and Atlanta averages only 2 inches a year. Most snow falls don't stay more than 1 day but when it does it will bring the city to a halt. We don't have snow trucks, the side streets are not safe due to black ice and it is just safer to tell people to stay home for a few days.

Spring starts in early March although we often get a late cold snap. March, April and May are very nice. The first week of April (The Master's Golf Tournament) can be peak azalea time.

Your first winter in Georgia will be cold in comparison to Florida but you get used to it.

[researchnerd]

removed

lorilove pretty much nailed it. More info here: Atlanta metropolitan area - Climate

[MarketingGuy]

I agree.. That was.. uncalled for, really. I've lived all over. I'm not ignorant about weather, but i've not lived in Atlanta, therefore the question. So yes, I'm ignorant about the weather in Atlanta. You live there, I don't.

1.5 seasons = Summer weather from March through October/November. "Fall" like weather from December through Feb. That's about it, and even then it could go from 40s to 80s within hours, which is why i called it a half season.

Thanks lorilove and researchnerd.

[mrpanda]

I just moved here from Chicago in June. I have admit July and August's heat and all the weed that grew out of control in my back yard was brutal. I think Atlanta's best weather is in the Fall (Sept - Nov). Absolutely beautiful in the 70s.

I am looking forward to experience my first winter in Atlanta. I like the four seasons, (I think Southern California's weather can become tedious when there is sunshine all year round)

I just don't like it when it is so friggin cold in Chicago, you can take a leak outside in Dec/Jan, and your pee will literally freeze before your eyes. I am looking forward to see what Atlanta's Dec/Jan will be like.

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by MarketingGuy

Coming from Tampa, curious how different weather is.

Does Atlanta experience all four seasons? Or just 1.5 like Tampa?

How often does Snow reach the ground? How long are the summers?

I know kind of broad questions depending on what parts of the city, etc, but all stuff I'm very curious about.

Atlanta certainly has four seasons.

Some northerners might disagree, but wintertime in Atlanta actually qualifies as a winter to me ... it's not the same as the Minnesota winters I grew up with, but it will get down into the lower teens F at night almost every year, and last year we actually had a real snowfall (5" at our house, 8" in some of the northern suburbs). I think we tend to get a 1" snowfall just about every year, also. Whether it sticks to the ground or not depends on how cold the ground is. Sometimes it will for a few days, sometimes not.

I can never remember how to repost pictures I've already uploaded, so here are a couple of bad ones. This is more typical of what happens here. The deeper snowfall had a much larger impact. The melt/thaw cycle turns it into ice every night on the roads, which aren't as fun as you might think...

[MarketingGuy]

Great feedback.. Thank you!

[residinghere2007]

Personally I only feel we get two seasons, hot and mild here in Atlanta. Hot in summer and mid spring and mild in autumn and winter. But I can see how someone from Florida would view it as 4 seasons. I don't consider winter here as much of winter but I'm from northern Ohio. I also don't think it gets that cold here in winter, even at night, it doesn't get to the teen every night in winter where I live (I live a couple miles from downtown). It is probably in the 30s at night, which is a high winter temp (meaning that is the daytime high temp) wher I am from on a good day in the winter. And really even the snow, when it does snow is not bad here IMO. I didn't think this winters snow was bad, it is just like a PP said, we do not have the equipment to handle snow in Atlanta so it makes it look worse than it really is. I remember similar snows in Spring in my home town, we actually had worse snows than that in the spring some years, but we had salt trucks (not sand, don't know why they throw sand on the ground here, it does nothing IMO for snow) and city plows so didn't have to worry about city shut downs. I understand why we don't have them though, they wouldn't be worth the money when winters are usually rather mild.

But I'm sure it will be different for those coming from Florida. I had some friends in college from Miami and they were always talking about how cold it was here in the winter. Some of my California friends couldn't get over how beautiful the autumn leaves were (LOVE autumn here it is my favorite season) and would go around every day taking pictures to send to their families.

[cityrover]

imo we dont have 4 seasons. more like 2.5

HOT and HUMID
HOT and HUMID but with no rain (so not dry by drier)
COOL AND HUMID

i can't understand how people can say there is winter here when you have 28F at night and 64 at 1pm... in january. This is not winter.

Low of 43 for the day isn't winter.

Winter is where you have snow on the ground and it doesnt melt for at least a week, at a time.

[RainyRainyDay]

Originally Posted by rcsteiner

Atlanta certainly has four seasons.

Some northerners might disagree, but wintertime in Atlanta actually qualifies as a winter to me ... it's not the same as the Minnesota winters I grew up with, but it will get down into the lower teens F at night almost every year, and last year we actually had a real snowfall ,,,

Originally Posted by residinghere2007

Personally I only feel we get two seasons, hot and mild here in Atlanta. Hot in summer and mid spring and mild in autumn and winter. But I can see how someone from Florida would view it as 4 seasons. I don't consider winter here as much of winter but I'm from northern Ohio. I also don't think it gets that cold here in winter, even at night, it doesn't get to the teen every night in winter where I live (I live a couple miles from downtown). It is probably in the 30s at night, ....

To the original poster: any thread on Atlanta weather tends to devolve into an argument, because people have very different takes on the weather here, it seems. For my dollar, lorilove's description is very good.

Regarding the above two excerpts, I think rcsteiner is right. He wrote that it gets into the lower teens at night "almost every year." I've lived here for more than nine years now, and I agree. I think residinghere2007 misread that claim as indicating it was that cold every night, all winter. Of course that's not true, and it's not what rcsteiner wrote.

However, in regard to the actual temperatures, one can always consult some records. According to weather.com, our average daily lows are 31 in December, 28 in January and 32 in February. For a couple of months (approximately mid December to mid February) in the middle of winter, it freezes most nights. Typically, there are some warmer nights in that period, but they are balanced off by some nights with temperatures in the teens.

Average Weather for Atlanta, GA - Temperature and Precipitation