Freezing rain could slicken roads before football title game

ATLANTA – Freezing rain is forecast for Monday morning, just as big crowds converge on downtown Atlanta for college football’s national championship.

Forecasters issued a new winter weather advisory for metro Atlanta on Sunday afternoon, warning that roadways could be icy, with a chance of light freezing rain in the city and its surrounding suburbs from 5 a.m. until noon on Monday.

Kickoff won’t be until after 8 p.m. as the University of Georgia and the University of Alabama face each other in the College Football Playoff National Championship Monday night.

But traffic was already expected to be difficult, and with President Donald Trump’s motorcade to Mercedes-Benz Stadium complicating matters, authorities have urged fans to show up well in advance for the day’s events, which include concerts in Centennial Olympic Park.

Atlanta doesn’t usually get much freezing weather, but government leaders took precautions early across a region where a mere 2 inches of snow paralyzed freeways in 2014. Georgia road crews on Sunday were pre-treating interstates and highways with brine to melt ice, the Department of Transportation announced.

Well before the weather was known, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms urged employers to let people work from home Monday. Gov. Nathan Deal said all non-essential state offices would be closed Monday across northern Georgia due to the weather, and Atlanta-area districts announced Monday school closures on Sunday evening.

In northern Alabama, freezing rain could come Sunday night, forecasters said, possibly leaving a light glaze of ice on bridges, trees and power lines.

At least four Alabama school systems on Sunday announced delayed starts Monday morning due to the weather, Al.com reported . In Alabama’s DeKalb County, in the state’s northeast corner, government offices will open two hours late, officials there said.