Mid-February 2014 North American winter storm of further-north Georgia received unusually heavy snows. Precipitation started as light rain late on the 10th, with significant snow by the following morning while still above freezing, turning back to light rain before ending by mid-day. More light rain began after midnight, changing to snow as temperatures fell, then to sleet, freezing rain, back to sleet again before another significant snow by the morning of the 13th. Areas north of the city generally got mostly snow and sleet, while a large swath from the south metro area eastward got the heaviest ice accumulations, though a dry slot at mid-day proved
Freezing rain fall onto power lines. Windy conditions and lightning, when present, will exacerbate the damage. Power lines coated with ice become extremely heavy, causing support poles, insulators and lines to break. The ice that forms on roadways makes vehicle travel dangerous. Unlike snow, wet ice provides almost no traction, and vehicles will slide even on gentle slopes. Because freezing rain does not hit the ground as an ice pellet (called "sleet") but still as a rain droplet, it conforms to the shape of the ground, or object such as a tree branch or car. This makes one thick layer of ice,