Light snow in forecast for state, primarily south of I-40

Small accumulations won’t last long

Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department employee Derrick Burrus works Wednesday shoveling salt mixture into a storage barn in south Little Rock after receiving a new load of the anti-icing material earlier in the day.
Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department employee Derrick Burrus works Wednesday shoveling salt mixture into a storage barn in south Little Rock after receiving a new load of the anti-icing material earlier in the day.

Most of Arkansas has a chance of seeing light snow tonight and Friday as a cold front pushes through, but forecasters don't expect much accumulation.

The cold air is in place, said meteorologist Michael Brown of the National Weather Service in North Little Rock, but there is little moisture aloft to produce much snowfall.

Brown said the state will receive less than an inch of snow, with most of it falling south of the Interstate 40 corridor. Arkansas' northern tier should get only a dusting, with accumulations totaling about one-tenth of an inch.

"There's just not enough moisture for a lot of snow, but we're not ruling out any part of the state seeing flurries," Brown said.

Snow, along with a mix of rain, sleet and possible freezing rain, is forecast for Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Texas.

The first wave will reach Arkansas this evening, producing light flurries, meteorologists said. A second, stronger system is forecast for Friday afternoon into evening.

Temperatures will be below freezing Friday, Brown said. The temperature in Little Rock will reach only 32 degrees for a high Friday, and the mercury will plummet to 19 degrees by nightfall Friday.

"The ground will be cold," Brown said. "It won't take much for us to see a dusting of snow stick around.

"There's not much to work with in this system, but it should squeeze out flurries, at least."

The forecast hasn't caused the usual flurry of activity at grocery stores yet. Bread, milk and eggs remained on the shelves Wednesday at Bob's Food City in Mount Ida, owner Rex Cooper said.

"We haven't seen the rush yet," Cooper said. "Normally, when there's snow in the forecast, they hit the essentials. If they're talking about [snow] accumulations, they probably will come in. Every time there's a snow scare, it's a last-minute thing.

"Maybe they will come in after work," he said of customers.

Kat Devoren was waiting for the winter-weather customers Wednesday at Ken's Discount True Value Home Center in Camden, but none had arrived by midmorning. It is the first winter the hardware store, on Cash Road in Camden, will be open.

"We bought some snow shovels if anyone wants them," she said.

Devoren added that the store does not have any ice-melting materials, but she could order some if customers request it.

"People are talking about the forecast, but nobody is preparing much for it," she said. "They should."

The Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department is ready for whatever frozen precipitation falls, spokesman Danny Straessle said.

"We've got 36,000 tons of salt around the state," he said. "We're as ready as we can be."

He said crews began pretreating roads in southwestern Arkansas on Wednesday and plan to treat roads in Pine Bluff and Northwest Arkansas early this morning.

Straessle doesn't expect roads to get slick, but he urged motorists to be careful when driving on overpasses and bridges.

"It doesn't look like there'll be a lot of ice," he said. "We can push snow off the roads all day."

Whatever snow falls today and Friday won't stay long.

Brown said skies will clear Saturday, and temperatures will rise to the 40s in southern Arkansas and the mid- to upper-30s in the rest of the state.

A warm front is expected to arrive in the state Tuesday with temperatures forecast to soar to the upper 50s in northern Arkansas and the 60s in the southern half of the state.

State Desk on 01/05/2017

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