Expected Storm Misses Northwest Arkansas

Shihab Kavungathodika pokes away at a sheet of ice Thursday that remained after rolling the window down on his roomate’s vehicle outside his apartment in Bentonville. Kavungathodika and his roommates were working on de-icing the car before heading to work. Northwest Arkansas was spared the brunt of a winter storm initially forecasted to dump up to a half inch of ice across the area.
Shihab Kavungathodika pokes away at a sheet of ice Thursday that remained after rolling the window down on his roomate’s vehicle outside his apartment in Bentonville. Kavungathodika and his roommates were working on de-icing the car before heading to work. Northwest Arkansas was spared the brunt of a winter storm initially forecasted to dump up to a half inch of ice across the area.

— Temperatures hovered just above freezing Thursday as a steady rain fell throughout the day, dampening fears of a winter storm officials said may cause power outages and snarl traffic.

“It really wasn’t much more than a normal event,” said Marshal Watson, Benton County emergency services administrator. “We were lucky with the temperature staying around 32 degrees. If it had dropped to about 29 it could have been much worse.”

A winter weather advisory for Benton County from the National Weather Service in Tulsa, Okla., was canceled around 1:30 p.m. Thursday.

At A Glance

The Weather

Today’s weather forecast calls for mostly cloudy skies with a high near 34.

Source: National Weather Service

Tony Davis, Bentonville streets manager, said rain about 6 a.m. Thursday helped melt ice accumulated on roads overnight.

Bentonville street crews started working at 12:30 a.m. Thursday, with a larger contingent hitting city streets at 4 a.m. They spread salt on bridges and other problem areas.

Rogers sent road crews back out at about 3 p.m. Thursday to sand streets in anticipation of freezing temperatures overnight.

Davis said he was less concerned about icy streets by late Thursday morning than he was about wind gusts blowing tree limbs across streets. He said crews traveled the city to make sure streets were clear of limbs.

Wind gusts and ice accumulation made some officials concerned about power outages.

About 500 customers lost power in Bentonville for about 40 minutes early Thursday morning. The outage was reported at 6:12 a.m. and power was back on by 6:49 a.m., said Travis Matlock, city engineer.

The same outage affected Bentonville High School, but a blown fuse in a transformer kept power out to the north building at the high school until about 8:20 a.m. Students in the building were routed to the Arend Arts Center and the commons area during the outage, said Mary Ley, director of communications for the school district.

Carroll Electric had about seven customers lose power around Bella Vista on Thursday morning, said Nancy Plagge, director of corporate communications.

Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport in Highfill accepted diverted planes unable to make it to their destinations because of the weather, said Kelly Johnson, airport director. A few flights were canceled early Thursday morning because planes weren’t able to leave their originating cities overnight, but all flights were running on schedule by 10:30 a.m.

There was an incident involving a school bus in downtown Bentonville as a high school student drove to school. The student hit the back of the school bus near a stop sign at Northeast Fifth and A streets, Ley said. No one was injured in the incident, she said.

In Bella Vista, Fire Chief Steve Sims said medical personnel were called two or three times where people slipped on ice outside their homes Thursday morning. At least two people were taken by ambulance to a hospital, he said.

The Bella Vista Police Department didn’t report any weather-related issues over night Wednesday or Thursday morning.

Benton County officials said the weather caused relatively few problems.

“The roads were wet, but not frozen,” said Cindy Jones, Road Department road coordinator.

County Judge Bob Clinard monitored weather reports and received regular updates from the Road Department and other county offices. Most of the county’s effort was precautionary work, he said.

“We put out quite a bit of sand and salt,” Clinard said. “I talked to Scott Stober (public services administrator), and he said we put out about 140 tons. They started (Wednesday) night and kind of tag-teamed it. Scott didn’t go home himself till 4 a.m.”

Capt. Nathan Atchison, who heads the patrol division for the Benton County Sheriff’s Office, said Thursday morning there had not any major weather-related accidents reported.

Atchison said the Sheriff’s Office had prepared for deputies to patrol in trucks instead of cars if the weather turned bad.

Justice of the Peace Steve Curry is a bus driver for the Gravette School District. Curry said he encountered no problems on his Thursday morning bus route. He said most of the students he normally picks up rode the bus Thursday morning.

“The roads were slushy, but for the most part very driveable,” Curry said.

The Gentry Police Department reported one traffic accident by Thursday afternoon — a non-injury, one-car incident outside the city.

Decatur Fire Chief David Flynt said his department had one report of a vehicle that car slid off Arkansas 102 between Decatur and Centerton around noon Wednesday, but there were no injuries.

Siloam Springs Emergency Medical Services were called to five weather-related vehicle crashes east of Siloam Springs along U.S. 412, according to the Siloam Springs Fire Department. Three people with minor injuries were taken to Siloam Springs Regional Hospital.

Jeff Della Rosa, Janelle Jessen, Cassi Lapp, Randy Moll, Tracy Neal and Tom Sissom contributed to this report.

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