Ice storms can be disruptive and damaging by themselves. Now imagine one in the lead up to one of the biggest sporting events on the planet.
On Jan. 22, 2000, 25 years ago, an ice storm was shifting into high gear in the Southeast.
By the following day, Atlanta was one of the hardest hit metro areas. The city’s hilly, winding roads were left either impassable or blocked by downed trees or limbs, some of which fell on homes, others on power lines.
Around 500,000 customers were without power in the Southeast, primarily in the Atlanta metro. It was the most significant weather-related power outage in Atlanta since the March 1993 Superstorm. Some were left without power for more than a week.
Overall this southern winter storm from Jan. 21-24 left $1.3 billion damage from Louisiana to Virginia, according to NOAA. Damage in northern Georgia, alone, was estimated at $48 million.
There was some relief this storm didn’t happen the weekend of Super Bowl XXXIV, scheduled for the Georgia Dome on January 30.
Except Atlanta was hit by a second winter storm with freezing rain the Friday and Saturday before the big game. While this second storm lead to icy roads and disrupted Saturday practice for both the St. Louis Rams and Tennessee Titans, warming temperatures lead to improved conditions by Super Bowl Sunday.
It would be another 16 years before Atlanta would be awarded another Super Bowl. That was played in 2019 in the new Mercedez-Benz Stadium.
Jonathan Erdman is a senior meteorologist at weather.com and has been covering national and international weather since 1996. Extreme and bizarre weather are his favorite topics. Reach out to him on Bluesky, X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook.
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