After roads slickened, winter weather leaves sunny skies behind

6:13 a.m. update

Schools throughout the state were closed Thursday morning while roads remained hazardous in the wake of Wednesday's winter storm.

The Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department reported highways in Northwest Arkansas were covered or partly covered in snow or ice and ice patches. The National Weather Service reported that 2 to 3 inches of snow fell on most of Benton and Washington counties.

The service's forecast Thursday morning had no further precipitation. The high today is forecast as 30, with a low of 14. Friday's forecast is 42 degrees and sunny.

Earlier

Skies today should be clear and sunny after the cold front that dropped sleet and snow across Northwest Arkansas on Wednesday moves to the southeast, though the cold and a few inches of accumulation could keep roads slick this morning.

A winter storm system stretching from Texas to New England brought rain that became sleet and finally snow as temperatures sank below freezing Wednesday afternoon.

That kind of weather should come to an abrupt end today, said Pete Snyder, weather service meteorologist. Today's high was forecast around freezing under a sunny sky. The sun should stick around until at least Monday or Tuesday next week with highs rising each day, reaching the 50s this weekend and the 60s next week.

"It's a big change from what we've had, and it'll be dry, that's the main thing," Snyder said, adding Wednesday's system was behaving like a spring-time storm. "That's typically what we see happen, especially when we see a front as powerful as this one."

Road officials from Bella Vista to Fayetteville said crews would be working 12-hour shifts until roads were cleared. Slush and patches of ice covered major and minor roads across the area by Wednesday afternoon, according to the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department, causing several accidents mostly in Benton County. The weather service Wednesday forecast up to 3 inches or so of precipitation from the storm.

The most serious accident as of early Wednesday evening was a fatal two-vehicle collision east of Rogers just before 10 a.m. Wednesday, when only rain was falling. Elaine Holland, 94, of Eureka Springs was killed when another vehicle lost control and crossed the center line at a curve on Arkansas 12 near Arkansas 303, according to an Arkansas State Police report.

Darlene Burmeister, 72, the driver of the vehicle Holland was in, and Chance Eubanks, a 16-year-old passenger in the other vehicle, were taken to Mercy Hospital in Rogers. Clayton Kunkle, 16, of Springdale was driving the vehicle that lost control and wasn't injured, according to the report.

No snow-related accidents causing injuries were reported, according to the state police, but officials said dangerous roads could last into today. Capt. Lance King with Troop L in Springdale said ice on roads would likely be "hard as concrete" this morning after temperatures bottomed out about 15 degrees overnight.

Six flights were canceled at Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport in Highfill on Wednesday because of ice and snow in other cities, said Scott Van Laningham, executive director of the airport. He said inbound and outbound flights to Atlanta, Dallas and Houston were canceled. A handful of arrivals and departures were canceled at Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport/Adams Field in Little Rock.

Rhonda Harrison, a radio operator with state police Troop I in Harrison said troopers there worked four accidents because of ice and snow by midafternoon Wednesday. None of those required an ambulance to be called, she said.

Bella Vista Police Capt. Tim Cook said road crews were having trouble keeping even main roads clear around midday Wednesday. Bella Vista's Street Department's focus is on main roads, he said, adding crews likely won't able to clear side roads well by this morning.

"By the time they scrape and put sand down, the snow is covering the road," Cook said. "We have had a number of people running off these roads."

Officials elsewhere reported relatively few problems. Springdale sent out trucks with salt and beet juice to help keep roads unlocked by ice starting before 10 a.m., and Benton County began treating roads even earlier after the rain stopped.

"Unless something really weird happens over the next 24 hours, we'll be OK" in terms of road-clearing supplies, said Sam Goade, director of Springdale's Public Works Department.

School and business closings helped make the streets less dangerous, and no rural fires had been reported in Washington County, said John Luther, the county's emergency management director. By 4 p.m. Wednesday, Bentonville, Fayetteville, Rogers and Springdale school districts announced they'd remain closed today as well.

"It's just kind of quiet," Luther said.

The National Weather Service in Tulsa, Okla., predicted a thin layer of ice topped by snow in Northwest Arkansas, with total accumulations of up to 3 inches, and 4 inches in Fort Smith by this morning.

Karen Hatfield, a meteorologist, said the band of heaviest precipitation was south of Northwest Arkansas, so Fort Smith would see more accumulation. "They're going to have more moisture to work with down there than points to the north," she said.

Robert McGowen, director of emergency management for Benton County, said he'd gotten reports of a few minor accidents.

"We're seeing about one-tenth of normal traffic," said Terry Gulley, Transportation Services director in Fayetteville, where a handful of accidents were reported by the afternoon. City officials said trash and recycling crews are scheduled to resume pickups as soon as street conditions improve.

State crews didn't pre-treat roads because the salt applications would wash away. Instead, crews waited for freezing marks to "engage and roll the trucks and spread the salt in real time," state Highway Department spokesman Danny Straessle said.

"It's all about timing," Straessle said. "It's a key component for our weather plan we've been developing since last year."

If timed correctly, the spreading salt should work with the moisture already on the road to produce brine, a mixture of salt and water that makes it difficult for freezing rain, sleet and snow to adhere to the pavement.

Straessle said Arkansas is using new techniques this year based on practices in Missouri. The new methods include salt instead of sand and subscribing to a private forecasting company called Iteris, which among other things predicts road and bridge surface temperatures.

Information for this article was contributed by Bill Bowden of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and Teresa Moss, Tom Sissom, Erin Spandord and Joel Walsh of the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

A Section on 03/05/2015

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