Oconee County Georgia misses brunt of ice storm damage

 The official Winter Storm Warning for Georgia was in effect for Athens-Clarke County last night, but not for the neighboring Oconee County, Georgia.

By noon almost all of the ice was melted and any water was strictly residual


Turns out this was carefully crafted as schools remained opened after a two hour delay in Oconee County and were closed at UGA. The University of Georgia was set to reopen as noon.

The rain came in buckets, ice remained on trees, lots of limbs fell on the road, but by in large the most dangerous part of the morning commute from Watkinsville to Athens was watching out for fellow drivers getting out of their trucks and cars to pull limbs out of the road and on to the shoulder.

Thank you very much for doing this, but make sure you do not become a hazard yourself. Pull plenty far enough off the shoulder and look both ways before yanking limbs out of the roadway.

Aside from tons of trees glazed in ice, no black ice or other troubles were visible to me on my brief sojourn from Morgan Manor Estates to the Saye Building on Lumpkin. The Post Office is back open, and the Courts were never delayed in Athens-Clarke at least.

Let us hope the weather remains relatively dry before the all but certain re-freeze in the next couple of days.

Drive safely out there and always be aware that the other driver probably does not know how to drive in inclement weather conditions.

Great job by the Oconee County Sheriff's Office and the Watkinsville Police Department in keeping the city safe.

And well done to anyone with a chainsaw for cutting away the obstacles to our daily commute.

Also good job by the Post Office to salt the steps to make sure we do not slip going up the stairs in Athens.