Peachtree City, GA

Weather Forecast Office

New Year's Day Climatology

New Year's Day Climatology for North and Central Georgia

As you might expect, we have welcomed in the New Year with a range of different weather conditions. So what would we expect a 'normal' New Year's Day to be like in Georgia? And what have been some of the more interesting ones? Check below to find out!

The average high temperatures on New Year's Day can be found in the chart below. Usually, we can expect low temperatures in the mid 30s and highs from the low to mid 50s across our area.

New Year’s Day Normal Temperatures
	Atlanta	Athens	Columbus	Macon
Normal High	52	53	57	57
Normal Low	34	33	37	35

We have seen temperatures a lot colder and a lot warmer than our averages, though! Highs have been as warm as the 70s and lows as cold as the single digits! See the table below for record highs and lows on New Year's Day across our area.

New Year’s Day Record Temperatures

Atlanta

Athens

Columbus

Macon

Warmest High

75

(1952)

76

(1985, 1952)

78

(1952)

78

(1985)

Warmest Low

57

(2019, 1985, 1952)

59

(1985)

63

(2019)

65

(2019)

Coldest High

25

(1928)

31

(1936)

32

(1918)

32

(1928)

Coldest Low

7

(1928)

6

(1918)

18

(1977)

17

(1984, 1928, 1918)

While many New Year's Days are dry, we have had a number of very damp ones. Take a look at the record rainiest New Years below.

Rainiest New Year’s Day
Atlanta	Athens	Columbus	Macon
1.37” (1955)	1.61” (1888)	2.28” (1955)	2.55” (2017)

While a number of New Years have been on the cold side for our local area, no significant snowfalls have occurred on New Years Day. You can find the highest recorded snowfall for January 1st at each climate site below.

Most Snowfall on New Year’s Day
Atlanta	Athens	Columbus	Macon
0.1” (2001)	0.9” (1962)	Trace (2001, 1964)	Trace (1900)

Any other major weather events?

Despite the lack of any heavy New Year's Day snowfall, there have been significant winter weather events on and New Year's Day.

New Year's Day 1936: An ice storm affected the Atlanta area and other portions of north Georgia on New Year's Day in 1936. This ice storm followed close on the heels of one of Atlanta's most devastating ice storms a few days earlier on December 28, 1935 that left immense tree and infrastructure damage across north Georgia.

New Year's Eve Snow and Ice Storm 1963: A significant winter storm affected north Georgia on New Year's Eve in 1963, leaving several inches of snow as well as some freezing rain across north Georgia. 2.2" of snow fell in Atlanta, 2" in Athens, and a half inch in Columbus. Significant icing also caused power and communications outages in portions of north Georgia. Snow remained on the ground on New Year's Day 1964.