Bit of snow's a fall surprise; crashes in NLR fatal to one

State employee Robert Boyce sweeps the snow off his car Thursday morning in downtown Little Rock. The dusting caught residents and meteorologists off guard ahead of a forecast for snow for the weekend.
State employee Robert Boyce sweeps the snow off his car Thursday morning in downtown Little Rock. The dusting caught residents and meteorologists off guard ahead of a forecast for snow for the weekend.

A dusting of powdery snow and some sleet fell Wednesday evening and early Thursday in central Arkansas, giving some residents one of the earliest hints of winter in 60 years.

      

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A bundled-up Dianna White waits for a bus Thursday morning at Seventh and State streets in Little Rock after a surprise snowfall.

Meanwhile, a Jacksonville woman died Thursday after two multivehicle crashes about 6 a.m. on a stretch of Arkansas 67 southbound in North Little Rock.

Ramona Mason's car was among about seven vehicles involved in the crashes between McCain Boulevard and Wildwood Road, Arkansas State Police spokesman Bill Sadler said. Mason, 48, got out of her car after a collision and was struck and killed by a vehicle, Sadler said.

Traffic stalled for several hours afterward.

National Weather Service meteorologists didn't expect the snowfall because moisture had moved out of the state after a cold front blew in earlier this week.

Most of the snow and some sleet fell in a band from west-central Arkansas to Pine Bluff.

Brookie Mayberry, the administrative assistant to the Mount Ida mayor, said she noticed sleet falling in the Montgomery County town Wednesday evening.

"It was a little cool out there," she said, joking. "I knew the Farmers' Almanac said we'd get some snow in November, and some old-timers were saying that. I guess they were right."

Mayberry said her daughter is expecting her second baby any day, and family members are ready to rush to a Hot Springs hospital when labor begins.

"I saw that sleet and snow and thought, 'Oh, no. We can't have that.'"

It was the earliest frozen precipitation in Mount Ida since 1976.

Meteorologists at the National Weather Service in North Little Rock measured four-tenths of an inch of snow and sleet overnight Wednesday. It was the earliest measurable snowfall there since Nov. 7, 1991, when 1.3 inches fell.

Little Rock also saw four-tenths of an inch Wednesday evening and Thursday morning, making it the earliest snowfall since Nov. 2, 1951.

Pine Bluff recorded one-tenth of an inch of sleet early Thursday, breaking the earliest snowfall on record set Nov. 14, 1976.

People flocked Thursday to the Pine Bluff Sav-A-Lot grocery store on Ash Street to stock up on food in preparation for more snow and ice forecast for the weekend, said store manager Joseph Washington.

"They're getting ramen noodles, canned items and lots and lots of bread," Washington said. "They're getting things that you can easily keep in case the power goes out."

Weather service forecasters predict the northern half of the state will get either snow, sleet or freezing rain Saturday and Sunday, said meteorologist Dave Scheibe of North Little Rock.

Light rain and snow are expected to fall Saturday afternoon in Northwest Arkansas and then move into north-central Arkansas by nightfall. As temperatures drop during the evening, precipitation will likely turn more to light snow.

A second wave of moisture should enter the state in the northwest Sunday, Scheibe said. The northern half of Arkansas could see light snowfall Sunday afternoon and evening. The southern half is forecast to receive a mixture of light rain, sleet and some snow.

"We could see some accumulations in higher elevations," Scheibe said. "And it could possibly make bridges and overpasses slick."

The frozen precipitation should leave the state early Monday, and temperatures will climb back into the mid-50s in central Arkansas late next week.

Information for this article was contributed by Scott Carroll of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

State Desk on 11/14/2014

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