Though road conditions throughout Arkansas are improving, rural areas may still have patches of snow and ice, according to the Arkansas Department of Transportation.
Eastern and Southeastern Arkansas are the most treacherous roadways in the state, with snow and ice being reported on large stretches of roadway by the department’s idrivearkansas.com road conditions map.
Slush and ice patches are being reported on sections of Interstate 40 between Mayflower and Carlisle; on U.S. Highway 167 between Lakewood and Ward; and on Arkansas Highway 10 from Williams Junction to Booneville.
Ice patches are being reported on U.S. Highway 70, running parallel to I-40 between Kerr Road and Carlisle; and on U.S. Highway 165 between Scott and Humnoke.
Slush is being reported at the Interstate 30 and 530 interchange. There is a lane closure at the eastbound offramp of Exit 1 near Fourche Creek.
Interstate travel on I-30 is mostly clear, with some slush still being reported between Southwest Little Rock and Glen Rose areas.
“All of the primary roads are in pretty good shape, the secondary roads are basically clear in central Arkansas,” said ARDOT spokesperson Dave Parker.
“The National Weather Service is calling for some rain mainly in eastern Arkansas, turning into freezing rain early Thursday. So we are pretreating today and tomorrow afternoon for that,” he said. “Other than that we are just replenishing supplies and preparing for the next batch of severe weather.”
Caution should be exercised on any roadways, especially in the evening when temperatures fall below freezing again, which can cause the melted snow and ice to refreeze, he said.
When the department started the winter, it had 70,000 cubic yards of salt on hand to battle winter weather conditions, Parker said. Between July and the end of October, $3 million was spent refilling the 119 salt houses located across the state.
“In a single one-day event, a single district can use anywhere from 500 to 1,000 cubic yards” on average, Parker said.
Over the course of this week’s winter weather, Parker said the department has used 18,000 to 20,000 cubic yards of salt, or roughly 25% to 30% of the total supply.
“Estimated costs for this event, since Friday alone, around $3 million for the salt, brine pretreatment and of course, the salt used,” said Parker, who added that the Department of Transportation has a budgeted salt fund of $10 million for the current fiscal year, from July to June 24. “I know that the costs for salt this year were at a record high because of inflation, as much as 27% higher than previous years.”
Parker said the department opened a new salt house in Batesville just before Christmas and another should open next week in North Little Rock.
THE FORECAST
The cold is far from over, as another round of Arctic air is set to enter the state on Thursday and remain through the weekend, the National Weather Service said.
However, “the magnitude of this surge of cold air will not rival what we have experienced lately, but temperatures will be well below normal,” a briefing from the weather service said Wednesday.
Pockets of light rain or possibly light freezing rain could develop across central and eastern parts of the state on Thursday morning, the briefing said. This won’t be a lot of precipitation, but it might create a “minor glaze of ice” in some places.
Parts of central and eastern Arkansas, including Little Rock, Pine Bluff, Searcy and Batesville, are set to be under a winter weather advisory from 6 a.m. to noon on Thursday, the weather service said Wednesday afternoon.
“Mixed precipitation expected. Total snow accumulations of less than one inch and ice accumulations of a light glaze [are expected],” the advisory said.
Much of Arkansas, including Pulaski County, is under a hazardous weather outlook for Wednesday night through Tuesday, the weather service said.
“Friday and through the weekend, another round of Arctic air is expected to move into the forecast area, and drive overnight low temperatures back to the single digits and teens. Wind chill values will be in the single digits to negative values,” the outlook said.
CLOSINGS
The following entities will be closed on Thursday:
Faulkner County offices (All meetings have been rescheduled to Tuesday.)
Little Rock Zoo
Watson Chapel School District
Little Rock School District
Saline County offices
Clinton Presidential Center
Russellville School District
Gentry Public Schools
North Little Rock Public Library System will open at 1 p.m., and North Little Rock city offices will open at 10 a.m. instead of 8 a.m.