ATLANTA — Power crews have been working around the clock since the storm began, and more work appears to be ahead as the number of outages begin to rise.

Georgia is experiencing its coldest temperatures since the storm began, and officials warn that lingering ice is not going anywhere anytime soon creating continued challenges for power crews.

With freezing temperatures and winds picking up, heavy ice remaining on trees and limbs could bring them down, potentially leading to additional power outages across the state.

Power outage numbers continue to shift quickly. Fulton County had about 4,000 outages around 6am, the highest of any metro county at the time, but that number has since dropped significantly to about 1,200 customers without power.

At the same time, outages have increased in Gwinnett County, where more than 2,000 customers are currently without service.

Statewide, outage numbers remain close to 40,000. Officials say fluctuations are expected to continue as crews work to restore power and gusty winds create new problems.

Georgia Power says crews are continuing to make steady progress statewide, but warns the threat of additional outages remains.

WSB Radio’s Graham Carroll contributed to this story.