Freezing rain is forecast across most of Arkansas today.
It'll be Arkansas' second round of wintry weather in two days.
"Another quarter to half inch of ice is possible over northern Arkansas through Thursday," the National Weather Service in North Little Rock said in an update Wednesday night. "Localized amounts of up to three-quarters of an inch can not be ruled out over parts of north central to northeast Arkansas.
"This amount of ice will likely lead to travel problems on area roadways. Power outages could also occur with this much ice accumulation on electrical lines."
According to Entergy Arkansas, one half-inch of ice can increase the weight of a tree limb as much as 30 times, causing even smaller limbs to bend or snap, falling onto power lines and causing an outage.
Counties that were forecast to get the most ice from Wednesday night through today were Clay, Craighead, Greene, Independence, Jackson, Mississippi, Poinsett, Randolph and White, according to an updated map from the weather service.
Schools, government offices and businesses closed early on Wednesday in anticipation of the storm. Gov. Asa Hutchinson closed state office buildings except for critical operations today. The storm also disrupted air travel.
The only part of the state not forecast to get freezing rain today was the extreme southeast corner.
Two-thirds of Arkansas was under a winter storm warning Wednesday night, with another 22 counties under a winter weather advisory. Only six counties in southeast Arkansas were under neither a warning nor advisory.
"Moisture will continue to move across the state through Thursday bringing primarily freezing rain to Arkansas," the Weather Service said in a Wednesday night briefing. "While isolated pockets of sleet and snow can not be ruled out, freezing rain will be the primary concern tonight and into Thursday."
Temperatures could briefly rebound today, warming enough for freezing rain concerns to lessen with just a cold rain possible for some, according to the briefing.
Little Rock is forecast to have a high temperature of 37 degrees today, but the temperature will likely remain below freezing in Fayetteville and Harrison. After bottoming out at about 26 degrees tonight, the high in Little Rock is forecast to be 43 degrees on Friday, while the high in Fayetteville will be about 34 degrees.
"As rain departs the state Thursday night, colder air will again surge southward which could lead to a brief period of light snow before precipitation comes to an end area-wide," according to the Weather Service.
The amount of precipitation from Tuesday through today could saturate the soil and contribute to localized flooding in some areas, according to the Weather Service.
On Wednesday, Arkansas braced for ice.
A shift in the forecast sent the Arkansas Department of Transportation scrambling to put rock salt on highways in Central Arkansas.
Initially, Little Rock wasn't forecast to get freezing rain, but that changed on Wednesday morning when the Weather Service shifted its initial ice forecast farther to the south.
"The system evolved quicker than predicted, which meant we had to respond quicker than we had hoped," said Dave Parker, a spokesman for the Transportation Department. "Fortunately, we did heavy pre-treatment in the north, Northwest and the north central part of the state. Here in Central Arkansas, we didn't pre-treat because we were expecting heavy rains and it would wash it away."
Tweets from the Transportation Department revealed a sense of urgency Wednesday morning.
"Central Arkansas is loading brine tankers and will start pre-treating major routes within the hour," the department said on Twitter at 9:30 a.m.
An hour later, there was another tweet: "This is not a plowing event. It's going to be primarily ice. All 10 Districts are moving to 24 hour coverage."
For Northwest Arkansas, it was mostly a sleet and snow event on Wednesday, said Craig Sullivan, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Tulsa. He said much of the area had 1 inch of accumulated sleet and snow, but some sections of Madison and Sebastian counties reported 2 inches.
Madison County Sheriff Rick Evans said it wasn't enough to cause any serious traffic problems on Wednesday.
"We're kinda like everybody else," he said. "We've had folks sliding and slipping around, but nothing major that I'm aware of."
Newton County Sheriff Glenn Wheeler said some truck drivers had trouble climbing steep grades in the mountains because they couldn't get traction on the slippery pavement, but those problems had been cleared as of sundown Wednesday.
"I did put out a message like we do in bad weather," said Wheeler. "We hope people stay home."
If someone is in desperate need of baby formula or other emergency necessities, Wheeler said someone from the sheriff's office can bring it to them.
Sullivan said Northwest Arkansas was forecast to get one-tenth to one-quarter inch of ice today.
At the request of the Arkansas State Police, 80 Arkansas National Guard soldiers and airmen will patrol state highways and interstates to assist motorists during the winter storm, according to a news release from the National Guard.
One winter storm support truck team consists of five guardsmen and two Humvees, plus communications equipment, according to the release. The guardsmen will be assisting State Police troopers based in Little Rock, Newport, Jonesboro, Forrest City, Fort Smith, Harrison, Clarksville and Lowell.
Highways throughout Northwest Arkansas and the Ouachita Mountains were covered with ice, ice patches or slush on Wednesday night, according to https://idrivearkansas.com. Highways in south Arkansas were clear at that time.
Read more about winter weather in Arkansas
• Arkansas schools announce weather-related closures » arkansasonline.com/223clos/
• Take our winter safety quiz » arkansasonline.com/wintersafetyquiz/
• ARDOT winter weather map » idrivearkansas.com
Sleet covers the roadway Wednesday on Interstate 49 outside West Fork in Washington County. (NWA Democrat-Gazette/Andy Shupe)