It's amazing how the tv stations are making such a big deal out of this like this is some severe weather emergency. A cold snap like this happens at least once a year usually. Gardeners who go by the USDA hardiness zones should know better than most what can be expected of their climate.

Zone 8 10-20°
Zone 7 0-10°
Zone 6 -10-0°

It could be a lot worse.

You're right. Here in the metro area, the 30-year low is right around 10º. When you plant your ornamentals, plan for that temperature. I know we've had mild winters, but there was one a few years back that went to 8º.

It has been worse, much worse! But last night's temperature of 15°F was the coldest I have recorded in four years. The winter of 2003/4, we had one night of 8°F. But the all time record of -12°F(at my house) was back in the 1980's. It has also been this cold (15°F) in mid-March, after many of the plants had already produced new spring foliage and blooms. I keep several bags of pine needles for protecting plants, when temperatures fall below their hardiness rating.

The buzz words today are global warming and of course we humans, especially in the US, are responsible, totally!, for this apparent phenomenom. But if we could hang around for a few thousand years, we would see the next Ice Age make it's recurrent appearance on Earth, with the northern tier of states and all of Canada covered in several hundred feet deep ice.
Rb

i know to expect a cold snap that goes down to about 15;i just don't like it when it happens.it was 12 this morning,14 yesterday morning.it's funny to see rain barrels frozen solid.i'm georgia born and bred;i don't like this s**t.

Thank goodness, it didn't get as cold in our yard last night as was predicted. It was about 22 this morning. Razorback, I remember those minus numbers back in the '80s. I was watching the temp gauge on the deck and it just kept dropping. It really scared me- trees were popping and cracking and I wondered how much lower it would go. There were feral cats around the neighborhood and one had its feet frozen- we trapped it and had it put down. I don't ever want to see those low temps anymore.

What is annoying is the past couple of days were supposed to be in the 40's Yesterday was supposed to actually see a high of 51 if I'm not mistaken. It didn't get above 35 yesterday and the day before the high was 36- or 38 or something.
I think the weather forecasters should put a range of temperatures instead of a theoretical number. If did not take my heavy coat with me yesterday because I was expecting milder weather.

All of the Atlanta TV stations report the temperature predictions for the Atlanta airport, which is not representative of the temperatures you can expect in your area. The incessant jet traffic there produces a large volume of heat and air turbulence that skews the readings and predictions. Suggestions that the official weather station be removed to another area falls on unconcerned ears, since the heat island of downtown Atlanta usually tracks the airport readings.
I use weatherunderground.com to look at temperatures/predictions nearer to my area. (NOAA/NWS data)They also report about 30 personal weather stations in the metro area, some are accurate, some aren't.