Some schools closed, area under winter weather advisory

Snow fell on traffic Tuesday morning near the Springdale Municipal Airport.
Snow fell on traffic Tuesday morning near the Springdale Municipal Airport.

Benton and Washington counties are included in a winter weather advisory until 1 p.m., with the National Weather Service predicting up to 2 inches of snow.

The advisory also include Carroll and Madison counties and several counties in eastern Oklahoma.

The advisory said roads may become slick, especially untreated roads and bridges, and urged drivers to be cautious.

Several small school districts canceled classes.

One Bentonville bus was hit from behind by another vehicle on Arkansas 102, said Mary Ley, spokeswoman for the district. Another empty bus slid off the road and had to be pulled out, and six or seven empty buses reported sliding problems, she said.

"Most of the kids were already almost at school before this started happening," Ley said.

Bentonville is counting on warm weather to improve driving conditions and plans to keep children In school today, Ley said.

By 10 a.m., Bella Vista Police had received 22 calls of accidents or vehicles off the roadway, Capt. Tim Cook said. No injuries had been reported.

Those calls included three school buses, though only one had children on board at the time. That bus slid sideways while traveling east up Kingsland Road off U.S. 71.

Two other buses slid off the roadway, one on Oldham Drive and the other at Town Center.

Street Department crews came to work at 3 a.m. Tuesday, superintendent Mike Button said, though the worst conditions didn’t arise until about the time people started traveling to work. Crews sanded and plowed, with the most challenging parts of town occurring on Lancashire Blvd., both east and west of Town Center, he said.

By 10 a.m., he said the roads were looking good and starting to melt.

Upcoming Events