A winter storm sweeping across Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma may also bring freezing rain and slight ice accumulation to the northwest corner of Arkansas beginning early Friday.
A freezing rain advisory has been issued for Benton and Carroll Counties, in effect until noon Friday, according to the National Weather Service's Tulsa office.
That area of the state could see up to a tenth of an inch of ice by Friday morning, forecasters say.
Temperatures in both Benton and Carroll counties will likely drop Thursday evening to right around freezing, and they will stay that way until 6 a.m. Friday, said National Weather Service meteorologist Pete Snyder.
Some light showers are expected, which means raindrops could freeze, though Snyder said he does not expect a lot of ice to accumulate. But the best chance for ice will be Friday morning, he added, and the likeliest place for crystals to form are on elevated surfaces such as tree branches, power lines and bridge overpasses.
Ice and freezing rain probably will not be “a real extensive problem” for the area, Snyder said, as temperatures will warm up Friday afternoon into the high 30s and low 40s. That swatch of Northwest Arkansas is expected to see 1 to 3 inches of precipitation over the next three days, he said.
Some pockets of northwest Arkansas could see heavier rainfall over the weekend. Fort Smith and the area surrounding the city could get up to 5 inches of precipitation between Friday and Monday, Snyder said, though those thunderstorms will be isolated.
Conditions are predicted to be more severe for other parts of the southern Plains. Forecasters say Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri could get up to 1 inch of ice, which could spark large power outages, cause flooding and make driving nearly impossible, the Associated Press reported.
A winter storm watch is in effect starting Friday morning for those states, as well as for parts of Illinois and Texas. Ice accumulation and winds of 15 up to mph are expected.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.