Atlanta braces for plunging temperatures, ice, maybe snow

ATLANTA (AP) — Atlantans awoke to relatively mild weather today, but forecasters warned that streets could still become icy as fans arrive for the Super Bowl, with temperatures expected to drop more than 20 degrees during the day.

More than 100 of today's flights were canceled at Atlanta's airport and schools were closed across the city "in an abundance of caution" ahead of the storm front, which was churning toward Georgia just as thousands of fans begin pouring into town for Super Bowl 53.

It was sweater weather for the morning commute. Office workers made crunching sounds stepping on the salt spread generously over Marietta Street, one of the main thoroughfares downtown. The salt caught the light from outdoor video boards set up for the Super Bowl, and reflected shades of blue, red and green.

Even a threat of icy weather is taken seriously in Atlanta, five years after cars, trucks and school buses became marooned on the southern city's freeways in what became known as "snow jam."

The storm system slowed somewhat overnight, but temperatures are still expected to plunge into the 30s by this afternoon and the 20s by evening, said Sid King, a National Weather Service meteorologist.

"When I came in this morning it was measuring about 50 in Atlanta, but it's still expected to drop considerably," King said.

Less than an inch of snow is now expected inside the perimeter highway that defines the metropolis, but emergency officials say they're more concerned about the potential for ice.