A winter storm that moved through Arkansas on Thursday dumped 10 inches of snow in the Northwest corner and covered much of the rest of state in sleet and freezing rain.

Sleet and snow continued to fall in parts of the state Thursday night and could add another inch of precipitation, said Justin Condry, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in North Little Rock.

“The precipitation will wrap up most likely with eastern locations clearing at about 4 or 5 a.m.,” he said Thursday.

But low temperatures this morning could leave roads treacherous.

On Thursday, tractor trailer rigs jackknifed on icy Little Rock interstates while galloping power lines left thousands of people without electricity in Poinsett County.

Galloping occurs when high winds cause ice-laden transmission lines to bounce and come into contact with other lines, said Brandi Hinkle, a spokeswoman for Entergy Arkansas. Some repairs to damaged equipment were made Thursday.

“We hope to restore power by later this evening, but the wind could continue to cause galloping and power interruptions,” she said Thursday.

The National Weather Service predicted wind gusts of 35 mph Thursday in eastern Arkansas.

There were 20,410 power failures in Arkansas by late Thursday afternoon, according to https://poweroutage.us, which tracks power outages nationwide. That number included 11,031 Entergy Arkansas customers.

Arkansas ranked fifth nationally in the number of power outages in states as the storm moved across the midsection of the country. Tennessee had the most outages as of late Thursday afternoon with 145,528.

Condry said the situation in Arkansas wasn’t as bad as expected because cold air aloft created sleet instead of freezing rain for much of the state.

“It changed over to sleet a lot sooner than expected,” he said. “Sleet doesn’t actually stick to streets and power lines necessarily, so you kind of avoid that impact of power outages. That’s why we haven’t seen as many of them.”

At one point Thursday, more than 60% of Cleveland County’s electricity customers were without power, according to https://poweroutage.us.

Stephen McClellan, Cleveland County’s director of emergency management, said ice on pine tree limbs was causing the limbs to break and fall onto power lines.

“The ice just clusters up on those pine needles,” he said.

By 6 p.m., 2,072 of Cleveland County’s 5,017 electricity customers were still without power. Most of those without electricity were customers of C&L Electric Cooperative.

“Tomorrow mutual aid crews from Arkansas electric cooperatives that were less impacted by the winter weather will be dispatched to assist C&L Electric of Star City with outages in the hardest hit areas,” Rob Roedel, a spokesman for the Electric Cooperatives of Arkansas, said in an email Thursday. “Crews from Arkansas Electric Cooperatives Inc. have been assisting with outages and will also assist C&L Electric tomorrow.”

The low temperature Thursday night was expected to be 24 degrees in Cleveland County, followed by a low of 19 degrees tonight.

McClellan said there weren’t any designated shelters in the area.

“If need be we can open the fire departments and things like that, and the churches,” he said. “If we had to, we’d come up with something.”

By late Thursday afternoon, power had been restored to some Poinsett County customers, but 4,336 of the county’s 14,514 electricity customers were still without power. Of that number, 3,859 were Entergy customers.

Other counties with significant power outages at 6 p.m. Thursday included Phillips with 2,276, Arkansas with 1,672 and Jefferson with 1,537.

Dave Parker, a spokesman for the Arkansas Department of Transportation, said primary roads were “in relatively good shape” Thursday afternoon, although about 14 tractor-trailer rigs had “incidents” on icy Little Rock interstates, including some jackknifing.

“They’re all serious, but I wouldn’t call them major incidents that shut down the interstate,” he said. “Most of them were caused by people driving a little too fast.”

Parker said road crews were busy Thursday plowing sleet and snow and putting down salt.

“Overall, the main roads are passable, but we’re still advising everybody to stay home,” Parker said Thursday. “We’ve got to get through today. We’ve got to get through tonight.”

“Tomorrow, it’s going to be bitter cold. Tonight, everything we plowed and we moved is going to freeze. What is left over Friday night is going to freeze again. I won’t feel comfortable until probably Saturday night.”

The frigid precipitation led to the cancellation of more than 61 flights Thursday at Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport/Adams Field in Little Rock.

The state’s largest airport, however, remained open throughout the inclement weather, and whether a flight is canceled is a decision made by each airline, according to an email from Clinton National spokesman Shane Carter.

“Airlines decide when they fly,” he said. “Check your flight status before coming to the airport.”

Clinton National crews employing more than two dozen pieces of equipment began applying anti-icing material on the priority runway about 1:15 a.m. Thursday and continued clearing surfaces and adding chemicals as needed, according to the email. Areas around the airport fire station and the air carrier ramp also have been cleared.

Once the freezing precipitation ends, airport crews will continue to treat and sweep surfaces to reduce refreezing tonight, according to the email.

About half of the arrivals and departures at Northwest Arkansas National Airport were canceled Thursday, said Alex English, a spokeswoman for the airport in Highfill. That amounted to 21 departures and 17 arrivals.

“Our runway remains open and operable, so many of these cancellations are due to inclement weather at the airports we are flying to/from,” she said.

The weather also led Rock Region Metro, the transit service for Pulaski County, to cancel most bus service Thursday.

Many schools, city offices, courts and businesses were closed because of the weather Thursday and were expected to remain closed today.

Condry said most of the state will be above freezing today after a cold start this morning.

Low temperatures this morning were projected to range from 11 degrees in the north to about 25 degrees in south Arkansas.

Although the temperature will struggle to get above freezing today, sunshine should help melt ice and snow, but it will refreeze as the mercury plummets again tonight.

Low temperatures Saturday morning will range from 4 degrees in north Arkansas to about 20 degrees at the Louisiana state line, according to the forecast.

High temperatures across Arkansas are projected to be in the upper 30s Saturday and the 40s Sunday. Both days will be sunny, according to the National Weather Service.

    A traveler walks through the slush at Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport in Little Rock. More photos at arkansasonline.com/34snow/. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Staci Vandagriff)
      Fayetteville Parks and Recreation Department workers operate a powered broom attachment to clear snow from the sidewalk on the downtown square as snow falls. (NWA Democrat-Gazette/Andy Shupe)
      Chris Hester, a member of M18 Recovery, an addiction recovery organization, shovels sleet and snow off the sidewalk Thursday on Main Street in downtown Little Rock. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Staci Vandagriff)
  

 Gallery: ADG staff Snow Storm Photos

Source: https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2022/feb/04/jackknifed-trucks-galloping-power-lines-add-to/