MARIETTA - The year 2009 was one of the wettest and coolest in memory, but a dry spell may be in the forecast for 2010.

The early part of the new year will likely remain in the same abnormally wet and cool pattern of recent months, said David Emory Stooksbury, state climatologist and a University of Georgia professor. By late spring, though, Georgians could be experiencing a period of dry weather, though data don't show how long it will last, Stooksbury said.

Today's forecast is partly sunny but breezy, with a high in the upper 40s. There is a slight chance of snow flurries in the morning. Saturday night and early Sunday will be cold with temperatures around 17 degrees, the National Weather Service reported.

December 2009 was colder than normal for Cobb and the rest of metro Atlanta, weather experts said. The average temperature was 42.2 degrees, about three degrees below normal, according to the weather service. The high for the month was 69 degrees on Dec. 9. The low of 26 degrees came on Dec. 6.

However, December 1963 was the coldest month on record for this area, with an average temperature of 37.5 degrees, said Shirley Lambeck, a National Weather Service meteorologist.

The weather story of 2009 in Cobb, of course, was the flood in September.

Many parts of the county were deluged with up to 20 inches of rain during a two-day period from Sept. 20 to 21, as a slow-moving cold front moved through the state. As a result, the county's streams surged out of their banks and into nearby neighborhoods and shopping areas. Authorities estimated that 40 percent of housing in the mostly low-lying Austell and Powder Springs areas suffered flood damage. Officials estimated flood damage in unincorporated Cobb at around $10 million.

The two major factors that contributed to the flood were how wet it was beforehand and heavy development in metro Atlanta, Stooksbury said. He said land development keeps rain from soaking into the soil and increases the rate by which the water moves to rivers.

The amount of rainfall was another significant story of 2009. Spring rains ended a severe drought in northwest Georgia in June. The state had been in the grip of the historic drought since 2007, which took a heavy toll on water levels at Lake Allatoona and its big sister, Lake Lanier to the northeast of Atlanta. Both have returned to normal levels.

"That's a pretty impressive change," said Tom Moore, a lead meteorologist with Cobb-based The Weather Channel.

Last year was the second-wettest year on record for the Atlanta area, Lambeck said. Rainfall through Dec. 30 was measured at 69.39 inches at the official rain gauge at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, she said. The norm is around 50 inches. The record for rainfall in a year is 71.18 inches, set in 1948.

Snowfall was another notable weather occurrence for Cobb in 2009. On March 1, 2009, some parts of the county saw two inches of snow. The inclement weather that weekend forced Six Flags Over Georgia to postpone its first February season opening in the park's 42-year history.

"It was heavy by Southern standards," Stooksbury said. The Atlanta area usually sees about one inch of snow per year, he said.