State's highways free of ice after wintry system moves through; several schools cancel class

Arkansas' major highways were reported to be clear after a storm moved through overnight, bringing light icy conditions to some parts of the state.

The Arkansas Department of Transportation reported at 6:15 a.m. that several routes in and around Jonesboro, including Interstate 555, had ice patches on them. But the main roads in the rest of the state were said to be clear, and the ones around Jonesboro were free of ice by 8:30 a.m., the highway agency reported.

Several school districts canceled or delayed class, though most across the state were starting at normal times.

The National Weather Service took several reports of light icy conditions northeast of the Little Rock metro area, including up to a tenth of an inch mostly on trees in Searcy and Heber Springs and up to a quarter of an inch on elevated surfaces in Oil Trough in Independence County.

The storm had prompted the weather service on Tuesday to issue a winter weather advisory for roughly the northern third of the state except for some parts of northeast Arkansas, which were under an ice storm warning.

By Wednesday morning, no warnings or advisories were in effect, but forecasters said patchy freezing drizzle was possible in those same areas.

And the forecast has the potential for more wintry weather later in the week and into the weekend, the weather service said while cautioning there is still a "great deal of uncertainty" about what will happen.

"This may be in the form of mixed wintry precipitation in portions of the state, likely the north and west," the agency said in a statement, noting the forecast will be refined in the coming days and that the "details can and will likely change."

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