Rain is expected across much of the state through Monday evening and overnight into Tuesday morning, the National Weather Service said.
Meteorologists are expecting rain to start around sunset in Northwest Arkansas and spread across the northern and western parts of the state, including Central Arkansas.
Dennis Cavanaugh, a meteorologist with the weather service in North Little Rock, said that Little Rock, and most central parts of the state, are forecast to see rain between 3 a.m. and 9 a.m. on Tuesday.
“It likely won’t be as much rain as people would like,” Cavanaugh said.
The meteorologist said that most places in the state will get a quarter of an inch or half an inch of rain, except for the most southeastern corner of Arkansas, which will get less rain, if any at all.
“Some places might get more or less than those forecast amounts if any thunderstorms go over certain areas a few times,” he said.
Cavanaugh said the weather service isn’t predicting any flash flooding or severe weather from the storms.
“Not only is the storm system bringing this rain in just not that strong, the time of day we will see these storms is cooler, and just an unfavorable time for severe weather, mainly those overnight but pre-dawn hours,” Cavanaugh said.
The temperatures are predicted to be favorable this week, the meteorologist said.
“It is actually looking pretty nice this week," Cavanaugh said. "Monday will be the warmest it is with highs in the 80s and maybe 90 degrees in Central Arkansas."
According to the meteorologist, highs will likely be in the 70s and 80s in Central Arkansas and even cooler in northern parts of the state throughout the rest of the week, with warmer temperatures forecast this weekend.
“It will be near the mid-80s again. We won’t be looking down the barrel of another heat wave, at least not yet,” Cavanaugh said.
Cavanaugh also said Arkansans should be mindful of burn bans in their area this week and into the weekend.
“With the weather being nicer, people might want to camp, but if we don’t get as much rain as we’d like, it might still be dry and it would be risky to light a campfire,” he said.
Over 25 counties in the state, mostly near the eastern and western portions of the state, have a burn ban currently in place, including Pulaski County, according to a map from the Arkansas Department of Agriculture, as of Monday around 12:40 p.m.
This map from the Arkansas Department of Agriculture shows which counties currently have a burn ban in place as of Monday, September 11, 2023. (Arkansas Department of Agriculture)Another map from the department showed that much of the state is at a high risk for wildfire danger as of Monday afternoon.
This map from the Arkansas Department of Agriculture shows which counties currently are posing a risk of wildfires as of Monday, September 11, 2023. (Arkansas Department of Agriculture)