Snow Sets Records in Parts of Arkansas

In light of the snow surrounding us, I thought a blog on snow would be fitting. The below article is by Howard West and appeared in The Courier Online today.

For the first time in eight decades, Arkansas had a white Christmas.

And according to the National Weather Service in Little Rock, Pope County and the surrounding area set records for snowfall in December.

Joe Goudsward, a spokesman for the Little Rock NWS, told The Courier the amount of snow that fell Christmas Day varied greatly over a relatively small area in the Arkansas River Valley. For example, Clarksville received only 1 to 2 inches of snow, but places like Perryville, Jesseville and Morrilton experienced 10 to 15 inches of snow accumulation.

In Yell County, Danville had 7 inches of snow accumulation and the early morning NWS report, as of Wednesday, reported Little Rock received a whopping 11 inches — another record-setting snow accumulation for Arkansas.

Pope County received anywhere from 4 to 5 inches of snow, and in Russellville, the official amount is about 5 inches. Goudsward said, “This is the most snow recorded for a Dec. 25 in Russellville” in recent history. The snow accumulations experienced by the folks in Morrilton, Jesseville and Perryville are the most ever on record for this time of year.

“The weather event expected to arrive early this weekend is a much weaker system than the one that hit Christmas Day,” he said.

The conditions on Friday and Saturday will most likely be a mix of precipitation, but with only a 20 percent chance, so there is a minimal risk of much accumulation of snow.

“None of the weather models we use for forecasting these events show any chance of measurable accumulation,” he said.

Early next week, there is a chance of that possible snow event may not be out of the question.

“Right now, it is too far out to effectively forecast with much accuracy,” Goudsward said. “So far, it appears the precipitation we can expect with next week’s weather may only be in the form of rain — it is too soon to know for sure.”