A mixture of sleet and freezing rain glazed roads in Northwest Arkansas on Monday morning, and areas along the Missouri border reported seeing light snow as an arctic cold front crossed the state.
The Arkansas State Police Troop L in Springdale reported more than two dozen accidents along Interstate 49 in Benton County. Most were minor, a police dispatcher said.
"A few spots were rough," said Shawn Shrum, the assistant superintendent of the Washington County Road Department. "There were some bridges and overpasses, but we didn't receive any calls about problems.
"I could hear the ice pellets hitting the windows at home at 4 a.m.," he said. "But it quit after a few minutes."
The temperature in Fayetteville dropped from 72 degrees Sunday afternoon to 26 degrees early Monday as the front passed through. Temperatures dipped to 23 degrees in Rogers, 25 degrees in Harrison and Bentonville, 28 degrees in Flippin, 34 degrees in Batesville and 38 degrees in Little Rock.
El Dorado's mercury fell from 71 degrees Monday morning to 49 degrees by 3 p.m., the National Weather Service reported.
The weather service issued a winter weather advisory for the northern tier of Arkansas counties Monday morning and a freezing rain advisory for the northeast corner of the state.
"There's no accumulation," National Weather Service meteorologist Chris Buonanno of North Little Rock said. "The ground ... was so warm from the higher temperatures Sunday. Any frozen precipitation that fell didn't stick."
Harrison saw snow flurries Monday for most of the morning.
"We saw a couple of flakes earlier," said Don Rogers, manager of Splash Car Wash on U.S. 65 in the Boone County city. "We had freezing rain for a while, too."
He said a few cars went to his car wash Monday, but he expects an onslaught of vehicles needing washes as soon as the precipitation moves east.
"We'll be busy Tuesday," he said.
Jonesboro also reported seeing light snow flurries during the day, Buonanno said.
The precipitation had moved across most of the state by nightfall. Eastern Arkansas was expected to see a slight chance of a wintry mix overnight before temperatures began rising this morning.
The next round of rain is forecast for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, Buonanno said.
"We're going to see warming conditions, so any of the midweek rain won't be frozen," he said.
Temperatures are predicted to rise into the upper 40s in northern Arkansas and into the 50s and 60s in central Arkansas by Thursday.
State Desk on 12/02/2014