State in for deeper chill as winter socks the U.S.

LITTLE ROCK — Weather forecasters say snow and cold weather plaguing much of the state Monday and today are just precursors for what Mother Nature has in store for Arkansas later this week.

Forecasters expect single digit temperatures - in the teens for those in the south - and at least a little more snow. Little Rock, which is predicted to see 9 degrees Thursday night and 8 degrees Friday night, hasn’t experienced single-digit temperatures since February 1996.

Temperatures in Fayetteville should dip as low as 1 below zero Thursday and Friday. The record low for Jan. 8 in Fayetteville was 14 below zero in 1970.

Though temperatures were mostly in the low 30sMonday, light snow and icy conditions prompted many public and private school officials across the state to cancel classes Monday. City and county offices in some areas also closed.

More closures are expected for today and later this week, depending on road conditions. Those seeking more information about closings can go to www.arkansasonline.com/closings/.

Road crews, homeless shelters and grocery stores were all gearing up Monday for whatever the next round of frigid temperatures brings Thursday.

“We’re trying to get ready for it,” said Steve Lawrence, district maintenance engineer for state Highway and Transportation Department District 9 in northern Arkansas.

Homeless shelters gathered blankets and other supplies as they waited for an influx of people trying to find a warm place to sleep.

“We fall into cold-weather mode and make as much room to make as many people comfortable as possible,” said Kathy Barbeire, a spokesman for The Salvation Army in Little Rock.

DEATHS, SNOW ACROSS COUNTRY

The arctic fronts causing below-normal temperatures are sweeping through much of the eastern two-thirds of the nation, said Chris Buonanno, the science and operations officer with the National Weather Service’s North Little Rock office.

“It’s not just limited to our area,” Buonanno explained. “It’s a pretty big chunk of the nation.”

Record snows were reported over the weekend in Vermont, and farmers in Florida scrambled Monday to save strawberries and tomatoes.

In Burlington, Vt., a weekend snowstorm dumped more than 33 inches, breaking a single-storm record of nearly 30 inches set in 1969.

Most took it in stride, but some took it too far: Vermont state police cited a man Sunday after stopping him pulling a sled - with a rider in it - behind his car on Interstate 89. He was cited for driving with a suspended license.

It was a similar scene in upstate New York, where so called lake effect snow blanketed parts of the state with more than 3 feet.

In Nashville, Tenn., where the overnight low was 12 degrees, police believe that an 81-year-old man with Alzheimer’s disease wandered outside in his bathrobe and froze to death, The Tennessean reported. His body was found early Monday.

Wrecks on icy roads killed at least two other people in West Virginia and Washington, D.C.

In Arkansas, Ashley County authorities and volunteers were still searching Monday for 19-year-old Dusty Evans, who was missing on New Year’s Day after his sport utility vehicle got stuck on a flooded road, Chief Deputy Sheriff Marilyn Smith said.

“We’re going to keep searching for him until we locate him,” Smith said.

NORTH ARKANSAS TAKES BRUNT

Meanwhile, Arkansans close to the Missouri border took the brunt of the winter weather that moved through over the weekend.

A snowstorm dumped 2 to 5 inches of snow from Saturday through Monday in north and northwestern Arkansas, where forecasters had predicted only a dusting.

“It was a snow that fell all day and all night, just a light snow; but the way it fell it’s packed on the roads,” Izard County Sheriff Tate Lawrence said Monday.

Main routes were mostly clear of snow and ice Monday, but secondary routes remained slick and snow packed.

Officials said no serious weather-related injuries or traffic accidents had been reported through midday Monday.

“So far, knock on wood,” Searcy County Chief Deputy Joey Pruitt said.

Still, slippery conditions sent vehicles spinning into ditches.

Stone County deputies, who worked several roll-over accidents, urged motorists to carry blankets, food and water in case they become stranded.

Driving conditions were so poor in parts of Baxter County that some people abandoned their cars, said Sgt. Ken Grayham with the sheriff’s office patrol division.

In Fulton County, Sheriff Walter Dillinger urged residents to make a grocery store run while they could.

“If they can, get out and get what they need now. But be careful. That’s the main thing,” Dillinger said.

Mark Pahl, assistant manager at Hudson’s Supermarket on Main Street in Harrison, said business had picked upMonday afternoon, “but by no means is it a snow scare yet.”

Pahl expects that will happen today.

Some people were too busy playing in the snow Monday to worry about a run on supermarkets.

In Mountain Home on Monday, 19-month-old Pixie Bolick and her brother, Marley, 3, tumbled in the snow under the watchful eyes of their parents, Rachel and Tyler Bolick.

Tyler Bolick manned the camera. “For the grandparents,” he said with a wide smile.

“It’s Pixie’s first time to play in the snow,” said her mother as the little girl, bundled up in a puffy pink snowsuit, picked her way through the snow.

“She mostly likes to ride on the sled.”

Looking ahead, people in Northwest Arkansas may get more snow than they expect.

A meteorologist with the National Weather Service said unforecasted flurries will become a familiar occurrence this week as lower-than-usual temperatures make weather difficult to predict.

Air temperatures consistently below freezing mean even small clouds are likely to yield snow, said Karen Hatfield, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Tulsa.

“This is a very unique situation for forecasters in the area,” she said. “When you get this cold, it’s a lot easier to produce snowfall. We like to joke that it’s a situation where every cloud has a flurry.” Information for this article was contributed by Mike Linn, Debra Hale-Shelton, Kenneth Heard and Evie Blad of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and by Jeffrey Collins of The Associated Press.