Sleet pummels Northwest Arkansas, making roads hazardous

Sanders declares state of emergency due to storm

Roberto Villa, Jr. and other workers with Lewis Tree Service trim tree limbs from nearby power lines, Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2023, at the Fort Smith Courthouse and City Hall in downtown Fort Smith. Villa, Jr. said the company was brought in from Oklahoma City this week to help protect area power lines and businesses from tree limbs that might freeze and fall from winter storms. Visit nwaonline.com/photo for today's photo gallery.
(NWA Democrat-Gazette/Hank Layton)
Roberto Villa, Jr. and other workers with Lewis Tree Service trim tree limbs from nearby power lines, Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2023, at the Fort Smith Courthouse and City Hall in downtown Fort Smith. Villa, Jr. said the company was brought in from Oklahoma City this week to help protect area power lines and businesses from tree limbs that might freeze and fall from winter storms. Visit nwaonline.com/photo for today's photo gallery. (NWA Democrat-Gazette/Hank Layton)

Northwest Arkansas drivers are expected to awaken this morning to the same slick road conditions as Monday and Tuesday, and officials have the same advice if they do: Stay home.

Sleet mixed with freezing rain began again in the region around 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, which changed to snow in some areas, according to the National Weather Service in Tulsa, Okla. Sleet and snow also fell Monday.

Police blamed slick roads in the death of a Rogers man Monday. Lt. Shannon Jenkins with the Benton County Sheriff's Office said a flatbed truck hauling equipment lost control and flipped on Guyll Ridge Road east of Avoca. The crash was weather-related and the driver, James Edward Sawyer, 60, of Rogers, was killed, according to Arkansas State Police.

Alex English with Northwest Arkansas National Airport in Highfill said at noon Tuesday the airport was seeing weather-related delays and cancellations.

"Our operations team is working around the clock to keep the runway cleared with both liquid and solid de-icing solutions, while airlines handle the de-icing of the aircraft," English said. "We are encouraging our passengers to check with their airline on flight status before they head to the airport."

Interstate 49 from the Missouri line south to Sebastian County was ice-covered Tuesday afternoon, according to the website idrivearkansas.com.

Area schools were either closed or had online learning days Tuesday. Many remain closed today.

The University of Arkansas, Fayetteville campus, the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith and Northwest Arkansas Community College locations also were closed Tuesday.

There was a handful of power outages reported in Washington County on Tuesday afternoon, according to the website poweroutage.us.

Today's forecast calls for partly sunny with a high near 32 degrees, according to the weather service. Area high temperatures will reach into the 40s Thursday through Saturday and into the high 50s Sunday and Monday, according to the weather service.

Another wave of wintry precipitation was headed into the state from over Texas on Wednesday after a night of freezing drizzle, which freezes more efficiently than larger droplets, said Thomas Jones with the National Weather Service.

Today is expected to bring more freezing rain than sleet in central and southern Arkansas, which when combined with lower-than-predicted temperatures, is likely to worsen the ice accumulation, Jones said.

"Our temperatures may not rebound as much on Wednesday as we were hoping," he said.

An 11 a.m. tweet from the forecasting agency predicted "a rough 24 hours" for central and southern Arkansas, with travel nearly impossible in parts of the state from Tuesday afternoon overnight into today.

From Little Rock northward, Jones said he expected the built-up ice on power lines and tree branches to contribute to power outages.

Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders issued an executive order Tuesday, declaring a state of emergency due to the winter weather that began on Monday. Sanders' order removes regulations on commercial transportation hauling consumer goods or power transmission equipment for the next 30 days.

In her order, she noted the likelihood of downed power lines.

The order also suspends some procedures of the State Office of Purchasing and other offices to help provide the most aid possible to the Arkansas Department of Energy and Environment and the state Department of Public Safety though the Arkansas Division of Emergency Management.

The order shall be in effect "until such time as the emergency conditions cease to exist," the order reads.

Benton County roads were covered in sleet again by 2 p.m. Tuesday, said Melody Kwok, county communications director. Roads were covered with about one-fourth of an inch of sleet that impacted driving, said Jay Frasier, county administrator of public service.

Dennis Birge, Bentonville transportation director, said sleet was falling close to 2:30 p.m. Roads were sleet-covered, he said. Walton Boulevard, a main thoroughfare, was 75% covered by sleet, but passable, he said.

Keith Foster, spokesman for the Rogers Police Department, described road conditions as horrible Tuesday afternoon. There had not been many accidents, he said.

"I think everyone had enough warning time that they have stayed home," Foster said. "Schools being closed helps also."

Jeff Crowder, road superintendent for the Washington County Road Department, said crews were plowing primary roads Tuesday afternoon.

The latest round of sleet recovered roads, but crews were able to get de-icer on them before the sleet hit, he said.

Crews will continue to target primary roads before moving to secondary roads, he said.

This is the second weather pattern that has moved across the area in the last week. It was more snow intensive last week as Fayetteville reported 8 inches of snow, and Bentonville and Rogers received about 4 inches of snow, according to the weather service.

  photo  CLEARING THE WAY Arkansas Department of Transportation on Tuesday Jan. 31 2023 plows Arkansas 12 in east Benton County. Go to nwaonline.com/photos for today's photo gallery. (NWA Democrat-Gazette/Flip Putthoff)
 
 

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