UPDATE: Thunderstorms rage over state as cold front passes

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A cold front that moved from west to east across Arkansas on Saturday brought heavy rain and winds to most of the state for a brief period as the front passed through, and then left cooler temperatures behind.

The heaviest rain fell in an area that included northern Johnson County and southwestern Newton County, where more than 2 inches fell on the sparsely populated Ozark Mountains, according to National Weather Service radar estimates.

Little serious damage was reported. The weather service said the roof of a mobile home in Dardanelle was blown off, but otherwise damage reports were limited to downed trees and limbs.

Ahead of the front, temperatures across the state were balmy, ranging from 73 degrees at Blytheville in the state's northeast corner to 57 degrees at Siloam Springs and Bentonville in the northwest corner. At Camden and El Dorado in south Arkansas, the 10 a.m. temperature was 72 degrees.

Within a few hours, temperatures dropped sharply as the front moved across the state. At 10 a.m., the temperature at Fort Smith was 70 degrees, but by 5 p.m., it had dropped to 45 degrees. Similarly, the temperature at Little Rock fell from 72 degrees at 10 a.m. to 54 degrees at 5 p.m. Camden and El Dorado had fallen to the low 50s by 5 p.m., while Bentonville, Rogers and Siloam Springs were all at 36 degrees.

But no extremely severe weather developed. Marty Trexler, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service's North Little Rock office, said that was due in part to the lack of any significant concentration of energy.

"We had squall lines develop" with straight-line winds of moderate force, Trexler said, but no major concentration of energy.

"When squall lines develop, you have a little less chance of tornadoes developing," Trexler said. "To get tornadoes, you need individual cells (with a lot of energy concentrated)."

When a squall line develops, he said, "the energy is shared along a long line."

Gusts between 40 and 50 mph were recorded widely across the state, Trexler said, including the Little Rock area in central Arkansas, Russellville to the west, the Harrison-Mountain Home area in the north, and south of Pine bluff.

"There were quite a number of areas where you had strong winds," he said.

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