Ice storm weather net activation

Ice-covered tree branch after an ice storm — Liz West · CC BY 2.0

DeKalb ARES operated a severe weather net during the leading edge of Winter Storm Fern — a multi-day, multi-state ice and snow event that caused catastrophic damage across the Southeast and would ultimately be among the deadliest US winter storms in decades. Net Control monitored conditions on 146.760 MHz and relayed storm reports while the state was under a Governor-declared State of Emergency.

What the storm was

The storm The Weather Channel named Winter Storm Fern was a sprawling, slow-moving ice-and-snow system active January 23–27, 2026, tracking from northern Mexico across the southern and northeastern United States and into Canada. Across the Southeast it produced up to 1+ inch of ice accumulation in places — the kind of ice load that breaks tree limbs and snaps power-line conductors at scale, in regions whose vegetation and infrastructure aren’t adapted to it.

Governor Brian Kemp declared a statewide State of Emergency on January 22, running through January 29 — activating the Georgia State Operations Center and mobilizing 500 National Guardsmen to assist with preparations and response.

Damage across the Southeast

Fern was, by the time it cleared, among the deadliest US winter storms in decades. The Southeast bore the heaviest impact:

State	Peak power outages	Storm-related deaths
Tennessee	~300,000 (incl. Nashville Electric’s all-time high of 230,000 simultaneous)	29
Mississippi	~300,000	30
Kentucky	—	22
Louisiana	51,000+ as of Jan 24, restoration into Feb 5	9
South Carolina	—	6
Georgia	100,000+ across the state	—
Regional total	>1 million customers at peak; 500–830 K still out into late January	174 storm-related deaths (most in the Southeast)

Ice loads of an inch or more in Mississippi and Alabama — states whose grids see freezing rain rarely — brought down trees and distribution lines on a scale that took weeks to repair.

In Georgia and DeKalb County

North Georgia took the worst of Fern’s Georgia footprint, with a peak of 0.60 inches of ice in Toccoa and the heaviest damage in the far northeast corner of the state (Clayton, Cornelia)
DeKalb: 1,400+ power outages reported
Fulton: 2,500+ outages
Statewide: more than 100,000 customers without power on Sunday Jan 25
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport saw 1,000+ flight cancellations on January 25 alone
Roads across north Georgia were treacherous; multiple stranded- motorist incidents and crashes reported through the storm window

What DeKalb ARES did

The net opened on the primary 146.760 MHz repeater as the freezing precipitation started. Net Control monitored conditions through the worst of the icing window, took storm reports from members across the county, and tracked NWS Peachtree City warnings and updates — the standard operating shape for a DKARES weather activation.

And then it got worse

Fern’s damage was still being assessed when a second winter storm — a rapidly-deepening Nor’easter unofficially named Winter Storm Gianna — rolled through six days later on top of the still-unrepaired ice damage. See the January 30 bomb-cyclone net activation for that storm. The same Saturday Fern began (Jan 24) was also the day of DKARES’s Winter Field Day operation at Briarlake Forest Park — which had originally been planned for a multi-day Stone Mountain Campground deployment but was pivoted to a single-day operation because of Fern’s incoming forecast.

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