As of 7 a.m. Monday, GDOT reported their snow and ice clearing teams working to keep the interstates in the 17 northwest Georgia counties covered in snow open and safe for travelers.
Bartow County residents Monday awoke to a few inches of snow blanketing the ground and some ice on the roads.
A spokesperson for Georgia Power on Monday said there had been no outages in Bartow County and only 6,500 reported across the state.
The National Weather Service this weekend issued a Winter Storm Warning from Sunday into Monday evening, ending at 7 p.m. The service called for freezing rain and sleet Monday with a high near 31 degrees. A total of 0.1 inches of ice was expected with a total daytime sleet accumulation of 1 to 3 in.
The Georgia State Patrol reported Monday fewer accidents than the icing incident in mid-December that caught officials off-guard.
An operator at Cartersville Post 3 said the majority of reports in Bartow County were of stranded motorists on Interstate 75, along with those who had minor collisions or slid off the roadway. She said the majority of calls Monday were from Bartow County.
GDOT is asking motorists to leave at least a 10-car distance between their vehicles and the GDOT trucks clearing the roadways.
Motorists also are advised to treat any non-functioning traffic signal as a four-way stop and to be aware of black ice, especially on bridges and overpasses.
The Bartow County roads department is also working to keep the roads safe.
"There are no road closings and we've got several crews and trucks out," Tim Evans of the Bartow County roads department said Monday, "but we're urging people to drive slow."
The GSP said troopers may have difficulty reaching motorists and many wrecker services were not operating Monday.
"If you do get in a ditch, you may be there a while," a GSP operator said.
Travelers statewide are asked to call 511 for updated information about the weather and other maintenance operations on interstate and state routes.
Georgia 511 is a free phone service that provides real-time traffic and travel information statewide, such as traffic conditions, incidents, lane closures and delays due to inclement weather. It operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
The service predicts today to be mostly cloudy with a high near 38 degrees and a low around 24 degrees, meaning there is the possibility for more ice.
Bartow County and Cartersville City schools and Excel Christian Academy will be closed today. Chattahoochee Technical College and Georgia Highlands College at press time said no decision had yet been reached whether to close or delay classes today.
Visit www.daily-tribune.com for updates on any school closings and delays.