State covered in snow, ice; temperatures dive

As sleet falls just after 6 p.m. Wednesday, traffic in downtown Little Rock inches along Interstate 630 near Center Street. The precipitation was expected to later change over to snow.
As sleet falls just after 6 p.m. Wednesday, traffic in downtown Little Rock inches along Interstate 630 near Center Street. The precipitation was expected to later change over to snow.

A cold front came slower into Arkansas than expected Wednesday, bringing rain followed by heavy snow, sleet and gusty winds. At least one Arkansan died in a traffic accident.

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Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Utility trucks assemble Wednesday at the State Fairgrounds in Little Rock as out-of-state crews check in with Entergy officials before being deployed around the state.

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© NWA Democrat-Gazette

A Fayetteville city plow truck (top) works its way down Woolsey Avenue as sleet and snow accumulate Wednesday.

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NWA Democrat-Gazette

Maria Reyes spreads salt on the sidewalk at Lingle Middle School in Rogers.

National Weather Service meteorologists expected the system to dump up to 6 inches of snow in northern Arkansas on Wednesday night and early today, and from 2-4 inches in the center of the state. The southern edge of the state was expected to get an inch of snow and up to a quarter-inch of ice.

Wind gusts of 20-30 mph were common as the front pushed through, meteorologists said. Utility officials feared icing could cause power lines to snap in windy conditions and topple trees, particularly in southeast Arkansas.

At or below-freezing temperatures are forecast today, and by tonight, the northern half of the state is expected to see single-digit readings on thermometers.

"This will have a significant impact on the mid-South," said National Weather Service meteorologist Gary Woodall of Memphis. "Because of the cold temperatures following this front, whatever falls won't begin melting until Saturday. It will be here for a while."

Capt. Lance King with Arkansas State Police Troop L in Springdale said wet pavement could have been a factor in a traffic crash on Arkansas 12 that resulted in the death of Elaine Holland, 94, of Eureka Springs.

Holland died after an eastbound 2003 Dodge Ram pickup driven by Clayton Kunkle, 16, of Springdale crossed the centerline and hit head-on the 2014 Honda CRV in which Holland was a passenger.

The arctic air mass was slower to arrive in the state than expected. Forecasters originally called for sleet to begin falling in northern Arkansas at daybreak, but it didn't begin falling until about 10 a.m.

Once it began, it was heavy.

"We didn't get too much ice," said Deion Sanders, an employee of the Blackjack Supply Store in Viola, east of Mountain Home near the Missouri line. "But the snow hit hard. The plows are running, but U.S. 62 is white."

He said the Fulton County feed store would stay open as long as safely possible.

State Highway and Transportation Department crews in Northwest Arkansas began working early Wednesday, when the first wintry precipitation arrived. Crews tackled icy roads in Benton, Crawford, Madison and Washington counties and parts of Carroll County, said department spokesman Danny Straessle.

"In the rest of the state, everybody else is pretty much watching the temperatures fall," he said Wednesday afternoon.

The National Weather Service in Tulsa 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 with the National Weather Service, 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.

The high is expected to be 29 degrees today in Fayetteville, with a low of 13 degrees tonight.

Heavy rain that preceded the winter storm prevented crews from pretreating roadways because the salt applications would wash away. Instead, crews waited for the freezing mark to "engage and roll the trucks and spread the salt in real time," Straessle said.

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

If timed correctly, the salt being spread should work with the moisture already on the roadways to produce brine, a mixture of salt and water to help keep freezing rain, sleet and snow from adhering to the pavement.

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

Straessle said the Highway Department ordered 12,000 tons of salt for this winter and is applying 150 pounds per lane mile.

"We are all salt now, no sand," Straessle said. "There are a lot of benefits to that. No. 1 is salt works. ... A good thing is after a winter weather event, you don't have all that sand to clean up."

Treating roads began Wednesday morning, but the worst of the snow and ice in the state was expected to hit overnight.

"We have gone from enduring a storm to playing aggressive offense, basically," Straessle said. "We like what we've seen so far."

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 few arrivals and departures were canceled at Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport/Adams Field in Little Rock.

Ominous forecasts prompted scores of schools to close before the first snowflakes fell, and some universities around the state closed early.

At the Kroger store on Oak Street in Conway, manager Mario Jones said customers were buying "cold-weather items ... stew meats, crackers, pretty much anything when the weather gets like this.

"They're going to be in the house for a few days," he said.

At the Conway Dick's Sporting Goods store, skis, sleds, heavyweight jackets, gloves, hats and boots were in high demand, said store manager Nicole Sigear. Customers also bought "buddy heaters" and propane in case electricity went out, she said.

The Arkansas National Guard sent soldiers to all 12 of the Arkansas State Police headquarters locations to help transport troopers to hard-to-reach areas, help patrol highways and help with any accidents.

Guard spokesman Lt. Col. Keith Moore said 124 soldiers and airmen, and 62 Humvees were "scattered across the state," and six manned Humvee ambulances were standing by at the Fisher Armory in North Little Rock.

The Guard was also "pre-planning" for the instant conditions worsened and roadways became impassable, Moore said.

"We're putting people on notice for possible expansion," he said. "We're well experienced in this area, and we're trying to think ahead and stand by with the right kind of assets."

Others prepared, as well. Among the many closings of courthouses, municipal offices and schools, the Arkansas River Valley Regional Library System in Dardanelle closed at 2 p.m. Wednesday. Library officials posted a state map, similar to what the weather service uses, on the library system's Facebook page.

Instead of forecasting snow and ice accumulations, the library map showed the number of books people could expect to read while snowbound. In northern Arkansas, it said, people would be trapped indoors for the duration of "two to four books." In central Arkansans, the number was one to two books.

Traffic on roadways in Baxter County was minimal Wednesday afternoon after sleet and heavy snow began falling, said Sheriff John Montgomery.

"Motorists were really out this morning," he said. "But once the sleet began, they got off the roads."

Rain turned to sleet and then snow Wednesday morning in Northwest Arkansas. By midafternoon, temperatures had dropped into the mid-20s and slush on the roads began to freeze.

King said Troop L worked 10 snow-related accidents by midafternoon, adding that no one was injured. He said ice on roads would likely be as "hard as concrete" this morning.

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

Overnight, conditions were expected to worsen, said National Weather Service meteorologist Jeff Hood of North Little Rock.

"Temperatures will be much colder, and there will be fewer people on the road at night," Hood said. "Sleet and snow will accumulate very rapidly."

He said the storm was powerful. Temperatures dropped by 4 to 5 degrees to below freezing in less than 20 minutes once the cold front passed through. That is crucial, he said, in determining if falling precipitation comes as snow, sleet or freezing rain.

"If we see the temperatures drop quickly, the transition from freezing rain and sleet to snow is quick," Hood said. "If the transition lags, it's more likely to fall as freezing rain.

"It took a bit longer for it to get here, but once it got kick-started, it began getting bad quickly."

Information for this article was contributed by Debra Hale-Shelton, Noel Oman and Nikki Wentling of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

A Section on 03/05/2015

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