Snow marks ice storm anniversary

The tradition of sledding down school house hill in Piggott continued this past weekend, as dozens of local residents--young and young at heart--took advantage of the snowfall. (photo courtesy Geraldine Crawford) [Click to enlarge]

The weather pattern was eerily similar--one year to the day after the biggest ice storm in recorded local history forecasters warned of a winter storm blowing into the region. Weathermen actually began warning of the weather event well in advance of the approaching storm last Monday and Tuesday. As a result, gas stations and supermarkets were bustling for several days as residents prepared for the worse. As a precautionary measure, the state also staged dozens of generators for quick dispersal to any areas affected by widespread power outages.

But, thankfully the majority of the ice was restricted to a small band well south and west of Clay County. Instead, the immediate region was blanketed with an average eight-inch snowfall and then plunged into frigid temperatures. The end result was a long weekend for school kids, and a few minor fender benders.

The winter storm made its arrival Thursday, and pushed into Northeast Arkansas late that night with a mixture of sleet and freezing rain. Throughout the overnight hours some areas were coated with up to a half-inch of ice, while the Piggott area recorded just about a tenth of an inch of ice in the form of sleet.

Early Friday morning snow began to fall from a band that stretched hundreds of miles across the central U.S. The frozen precipitation continued throughout the day and Friday night, tapering to flurries by early Saturday morning. By the time the snow ended the National Weather Service was reporting eight inch accumulations around Clay County and at Paragould. Other areas got more, as a total of nine inches was reported in the Hoxie/Walnut Ridge area and Pocahontas reported 11 inches from the snow event.

Under the direction of street superintendent Gary Chronister, crews were out in full force at the very onset of the storm. That work continued into the weekend as personnel worked around the clock clearing streets, parking areas and parking lots. Initially street crews piled the snow alongside roadways as they were clearing the way, returning later to remove the piles once the flow of traffic had been restored. That process continued throughout much of the weekend, with the last of the piles removed Saturday night from the downtown area.

"They did put in some long hours over the weekend," Mayor Gerald Morris said of the effort. "Luckily, they also got help from some of the other departments." Morris applauded the spirit of cooperation in responding to the latest winter storm. "I know for a fact that (electric department employee) Dave Finley's wife Terri fixed at least two meals for those guys out working on the clean-up," he noted.

The one area that reported no problems was the local electric department, who reported no outages from the ice or subsequent snowfall. Sporadic outages were reported in regions serviced by Entergy and Clay County Electric--and more widespread outages were reported further south where ice accumulations were greater. According to Entergy outages were reported in both the Monette and Harrisburg areas.

Following the passage of the winter storm system arctic air pushed into the region, dropping temperatures into the single digits. Lows of 8 to 10 degrees were reported across Northeast Arkansas and Southeast Missouri as clear skies combined with snow and ice covered ground to drive the mercury down.

By mid-week temperatures were forecast to rebound back into the mid 40's as the conditions were expected to return closer to average. A chance of rain late in the week should also help melt snow covered side roads that haven't benefited from the sun and warmer temperatures.