An arctic front that followed Saturday's springlike temperatures blanketed the state in a wintry mix of snow and sleet early Monday morning, freezing roadways and knocking out power to thousands.
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The state experienced a temperature drop of about 40-50 degrees, said meteorologist Julie Lesko with the National Weather Service in North Little Rock. In central Arkansas, Saturday's average high of 73 degrees plummeted to an average of 25 degrees by Monday morning.
With little to no warm-up expected and the possibility of more of the wintry mix throughout the state, many schools planned to remain closed today, including the Little Rock, North Little Rock and Pulaski County Special districts. State offices are running on a two-hour delay today for nonessential personnel.
Thousands were left without power Monday when the heavy ice snapped and disrupted electric lines.
Entergy Arkansas reported more than 30,000 homes and businesses affected statewide, with concentrations of power failures in Clark, Montgomery and Pike counties, among others. Southwestern Electric Power Co., which provides electricity to the western border of the state, had about 400 customers without power late Monday, down from a peak of about 830.
Freezing precipitation left the northern two-thirds of state highways layered with snow, ice or some combination by late Monday morning, said David Nilles, a spokesman for the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department.
"What traffic that is out there is moving slowly," he said. "But it's moving."
In some places, traffic was barely moving at all.
A tractor-trailer stuck on eastbound Interstate 30 near U.S. 70 in Benton backed up traffic for several hours Monday, Nilles said. Traffic also was extremely slow on Interstate 530 in a construction zone going in and out of Little Rock.
Nilles said he had anticipated some improvement in road conditions before moisture re-froze overnight.
"In the morning, we will be probably be dealing with the same situation," he said.
Pulaski County Public Works crews started treating roadways when the sleet began Sunday night about 10 p.m.
The county had six trucks out working 12-hour shifts. The day crew began at 7 a.m. Monday and spread salt on downhill stretches and along main throughways first. The night crew took over at 7 p.m.
Construction maintenance supervisor Woody Jackson said it would probably be today before county workers could address secondary roads.
Little Rock Public Works teams began pre-treating the capital city's bridges, overpasses and some major roadways with sand and salt at 5 p.m. Sunday and continued until 5 a.m. Monday. A day-shift crew took over from there.
On Monday, crews were addressing main roads such as University Avenue, Rodney Parham Road, 12th Street and Chenal Parkway. Spokesman Luis Gonzalez said crews would run the city's 16 trucks with plows and salt spreaders on 12-hour shifts until the streets are clear.
North Little Rock Streets Department Director Patrick Lane said his staff didn't pre-treat streets. But crews did start putting out rock salt and sand at 10 p.m. Sunday and were working to clear major roadways through Monday night.
Traffic was light, given that state and local offices and many businesses and schools were already closed Monday for Washington's Birthday and Daisy Gatson Bates Day.
Lane said that was a factor in roadways taking longer to clear than in past storms, because few motorists were crushing the ice mixture, helping it melt.
With sweeper trucks and plows, maintenance crews at Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport/Adams Field in Little Rock cleared the main runway and taxiways as the sleet and snow fell Sunday and Monday.
The airport has a dormitory for its maintenance crew -- a group of 25 that splits into two teams -- which takes turns resting and clearing pathways, including sidewalks and parking lots, spokesman Shane Carter said.
"Our airport has remained open," he said. "Our runway is clear."
But airlines started canceling flights Sunday night, even before the wintry weather arrived, he said.
Airlines canceled 45 of 70 incoming and outgoing flights as of Monday evening. Southwest Airlines canceled all Little Rock flights Monday but was hoping that its last flights -- one from Dallas Love Field and another from Las Vegas -- could land safely.
Carter said the airport plans to be back on regular schedule today, but he recommended anyone with an incoming or outgoing flight -- especially those scheduled for this morning -- check the airline website or the airport website at www.clintonairport.com to get the latest updates.
At Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport in Highfill, a "handful" of flights were canceled Monday because of the weather, including a couple to Chicago and one to Cincinnati, said Scott Van Laningham, the airport's executive director.
"The roads coming in were more of a challenge than the runway and taxiways," Van Laningham said.
Little Rock residents Monday were bundled up, walking to restaurants for coffee, trekking to grocery stores for snow-day meals and playing in ice-covered vacant lots.
Matthew Bell, owner of South on Main, stood outside the restaurant he closed for the day and shoveled the ice-covered sidewalk.
"I'm from Montana, so I kind of chuckle when winter weather hits here," Bell said, then pointed to the cleared sidewalk. "I know to get the snow up while it's not solid. It will freeze again tonight."
South Main District neighbors Joe Wyatt and Sarah Cowan walked to the grocery store with dog Remy in tow to buy pancake mix for a snow-day indulgence.
Cowan, a prosecutor, was off work for Washington's Birthday and Daisy Gatson Bates Day, but Wyatt, an insurance professional, decided to take the day off.
"I just didn't want to get out in it and drive on this ice," Wyatt said.
In nearby Conway, police spokesman LaTresha Woodruff said the city hadn't had many ice-related accidents but that authorities closed Salem Road between Old Morrilton Highway and Meadowlake Road.
Jim Smith Collision Center & Wrecker Service in Conway said it had handled only a couple of wrecker calls by mid-day.
Emanuel Carter, an O'Reilly Auto Parts manager, said Conway's Oak Street store wasn't as busy as usual but was selling batteries, wiper blades and windshield de-icer.
In Jonesboro, the roads were "slick but passable," said Jeff Chastain, a public relations representative with E.C. Barton & Co.
Chastain, also a competitive runner and cyclist, took advantage of the conditions to take his specialized Fatboy bicycle for a spin.
"It has 4.8-inch wide tires and is actually made for snow and sand," he said. "There's not much traffic at all and just enough accumulation of snow and ice to provide traction."
Around southeast Arkansas, icy roads caused several minor accidents and created travel problems. A tractor-trailer jackknifed about 9:30 a.m. on Jefferson Parkway in Pine Bluff, causing backups, and travel on I-530 remained hazardous for much of Monday.
But Jefferson County emergency officials reported no accident-related injuries as of mid-afternoon.
The icy weather translated into booming business for Pine Bluff grocery stores. Managers at both of the city's Brookshire's stores reported higher-than-normal sales for the usual winter-weather staples like milk and bread.
Farther south, road conditions remained mostly wet, though thin layers of ice caked power lines and trees. Power failures stretched across the southern part of the state.
Sally Feldman, who was stopped at a gas station in Camden on Monday afternoon, said the trip from Little Rock to south Arkansas took her about four hours.
"I was slipping and sliding for a while, and I could only go around 40 miles per hour," said Feldman, who was in Camden visiting an ill relative. "It's pretty bad, and you definitely should not be out in it unless you absolutely must."
In Northwest Arkansas, Bentonville and Eureka Springs residents awoke Monday morning to find 5 inches of ice and snow on the ground.
A band of heavy snow tracked just north of U.S. 412, said Craig Sullivan, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Tulsa. South of that line, in Fayetteville, accumulation was only 1.5 inches as of Monday morning, Sullivan said.
On both sides of U.S. 412, sleet had packed down on roadways and was covered with a layer of snow. In Eureka Springs, there was a base of 1.5 inches of ice with 3.5 inches of snow on top, Sullivan said.
He said there would be little additional accumulation through Monday night and early today. A slight chance of snow flurries was predicted for Northwest Arkansas today, with a high temperature of about 33 degrees and a low tonight in the teens.
Mitchell Archer, a construction engineer for the Highway and Transportation Department's District 9, said roads were pre-treated Sunday with a mixture of beet juice and salt brine to keep ice from bonding with the surface.
On Monday, the district's five "belly" plows were scraping ice and snow off roads primarily in Baxter, Benton, Boone and Madison counties. The belly plows go underneath dump trucks, using the weight of the 58,000-pound trucks to break up ice.
"They're a much more massive truck, not only for the scraping of the underbelly plow, but the plow on the front is bigger," Archer said.
Capt. Lance King with Arkansas State Police Troop L in Springdale said troopers hadn't worked any accidents as of mid-day Monday, but they helped unstick a few cars and assisted with two tractor-trailers that had jackknifed on Arkansas 59 near Sulphur Springs.
In Little Rock early Monday, Lazaro English was warming up his Lincoln Town Car on Charles Bussey Avenue. He bundled up the comforter and blanket he used to keep warm through the night and stored them in the front seat of the car.
English, who works at Rally's Hamburgers in Little Rock, has been homeless since the end of January. He said he has no choice but to brave the frigid weather in his vehicle at night because he doesn't want to stay in a shelter.
"It got very cold last night," he said. "But I've got my blankets."
Area shelters opened their doors during the daytime for those in need during the blast of cold weather.
The Salvation Army at 1111 W. Markham St. in Little Rock was at capacity, filling all of its 60 beds, said William Tollett, the agency's director of development and community relations. The agency has "a small number" of guaranteed beds for those transitioning into different housing, but most are first come, first served, he said.
"Whenever the temperature is this cold, we leave our facility open for the day shelter," he said, adding that anyone can stay until after dinner at 5 p.m. "There is a TV in there for them, and there are some games and things like that for them to utilize until [check-in time]."
The agency has gathered blankets for anyone it has to turn away.
"Individuals who come in who may not have shelter, we share with them the other facilities they can go to," Tollett said. "And give out blankets just to be sure that no one's health is put at risk because of exposure."
The Rev. William Holloway of the Compassion Center at 3618 W. Roosevelt Road said the facility also opened during the daytime.
Just after 2 p.m., Holloway said the center had about 220 occupants at the 150-bed facility. But the center has about 100 mats that shelter officials can lay out if needed.
"It's hard to get around right now," he said. "There's a few cars out running, but primarily it's police, ambulances and firetrucks. We have a lot of people coming."
With the inclement weather, the center has had more mouths to feed -- and subsequently, less food, he said.
Forecasters didn't expect conditions to change much today.
"The temperatures are going to remain pretty cold through the next few days. The lows will be only in the lower 20s, upper teens," Lesko said. "Anything that fell across the north is going to stick around for a bit. Jonesboro and the north/northeast could see another passing glance of snow."
A possibility of more of the wintry mix will come Thursday, Lesko said, with moisture coming in from the Gulf to override the cold air in place.
"We could also warm above freezing by Friday, and it could turn over into rain. There are precipitation chances all weekend. It could vary between wintry mix or rain. It depends on how much warmth comes in," Lesko said. "There's quite a bit of uncertainty here."
Information for this article was contributed by Bill Bowden, Aziza Musa, Chelsea Boozer, Noel Oman, Debra Hale-Shelton and John Worthen of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
State Desk on 02/17/2015