FAYETTEVILLE — Only a couple degrees separated Fayetteville from falling prey to a winter storm Thursday that brought sleet and freezing rain to other parts of Northwest Arkansas.
Steve Plate, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said temperatures in the area hovered around 34 degrees.
“In Fayetteville, it wasn’t a big deal,” he said. “Overnight, the actual Fayetteville observation temperatures warmed to above freezing causing mostly rain. But just a few miles to the east and northeast, it was a very different story with a lot of freezing rain and sleet.”
Service forecasters predicted possible outages across Northwest Arkansas because of ice and wind.
Most of the power outages were limited to Benton County, where the temperature stayed near 32 degrees. About 825 customers lost electricity in the region, according to Peter Main, a spokesman for Southwestern Electric Power Co.
By The Numbers
February Weather in Fayetteville
Average This Month
Rainfall 2.81 inches 1.97 inches
Snowfall 1.6 inches 1.4 inches
Temperature 39.7 degrees 40.1 degrees
Source: National Weather Service
A lightning strike caused a brief outage for about 10 customers near Springdale.
Penny Storms, spokeswoman for Ozarks Electric Cooperative Cooperation, said the company had no outages in Washington County.
Dan Scott, owner of Scott Pole Line, said 16 employees with the Texas-based power company drove to Fayetteville in 12 trucks Wednesday.
The group stayed at the Days Inn on College Avenue, where they remained on standby for most of Thursday.
Crews from Altec Inc., a Louisiana-based electricity company, also stayed at the hotel.
“I think the storm system is starting to wind down, but everyone keeps telling me there’s more to come,” Scott said late Thursday morning.
Scott said he planned to follow the storm system north after it passed through Arkansas.
More than a foot of snow fell across parts of Kansas, while wind created snowdrifts and hazardous driving conditions, according to the National Weather Service. A state of emergency was declared in Kansas and Missouri because of hazardous travel and possible outages.
The storm is expected to deliver heavy snow, sleet and freezing rain across the Midwest through this afternoon.
Fayetteville received 1.6 inches of snow Wednesday and Thursday. Other parts of the state, including Clarksville, had 5 inches.
The last half of the storm passed through Northwest Arkansas early Thursday morning, bringing with it a rare combination of sleet, thunder and rain.
Plate said snow mixed with thunder is more likely to occur in the mid-South, especially in Arkansas and Oklahoma, where the conditions are “just right.”
“With a winter storm, it doesn’t happen all that often,” he said. “With this storm, it took a track more typical of a springtime storm system, but we had cold air in place like a winter storm. I guess you could say we’re in that sweet spot. Further north it would be too cold and further south it would be too warm.”
There were no reports of car accidents Thursday in Fayetteville or Washington County.
Dale Forbes, a communication officer with the Arkansas State Police, said officers worked about 30 accidents Thursday and Friday in the region.
Three accidents were reported in Springdale as of 4 p.m. Thursday, according to Derek Hudson, spokesman for the Springdale Police Department.
Terry Gulley, Fayetteville’s transportation services director, said road crews worked overnight Wednesday, treating streets with a salt and sand mixture.
“We never had any trouble,” Gulley said Thursday.
David Jurgens, Fayetteville utilities director, said city crews checked for frozen pipes, but didn’t run into any complications.
“We didn’t have any issues other than the normal stuff we deal with every time we have a pretty good rain,” he said. “We always go out and check the sewer lines that cross the streets. Fortunately, it never got cold enough to cause any problems.”
School districts in Washington County reported safe traveling for students Thursday morning as buses rolled across the county, including steep and rugged areas around Winslow.
Greenland Superintendent Charles Cudney said one bus got stuck making a turnaround and had to be pulled out by a wrecker but the driver and students on board weren’t injured in the mishap.
Cudney said the driver was backing into a driveway to turn around when the bus slipped off the driveway.
Other school officials said their schools opened without any problem Thursday morning, after dismissing early Wednesday.
Tommy Davenport, Fayetteville School District transportation manager, praised the city for keeping streets clear, making bus travel easier.
“We had no problems. The city did a fantastic job,” Davenport said.
Plate said the wet weather tapered off in Northwest Arkansas early Thursday afternoon.
“It will remain cold (today) and even Saturday, temperatures will remain below normal,” he said. “We should warm back up to normal by Sunday.”
Rose Ann Pearce and Joel Walsh contributed to this report.