Arkadelphia area dodges icy bullet as temperatures plunge to near-zero

A screenshot of an Interstate 30 traffic camera at Caddo Valley shows patches of ice on the shoulder early Wednesday morning. | Arkansas Department of Transportation/iDriveArkansas

By JOEL PHELPS | arkadelphian.com

With a light glaze of freezing rain, Clark County dodged the brunt of a statewide winter storm Tuesday, Feb. 18, with minimal travel impacts and outages reported.

A total of 0.33 inches of precipitation was measured at Arkadelphia’s airport. That number doesn’t necessarily indicate the amount of frozen precipitation.

By Wednesday morning, Sheriff Jason Watson said there were no major traffic issues, with just one minor accident reported overnight. At 8:30 a.m., the state Department of Transportation’s iDriveArkansas app showed ice patches on Interstate 30 and US Highway 67 northeast of Arkadelphia/Caddo Valley, while Highway 7 from Garland County had patches of ice, with slush south from Arkadelphia to Sparkman.

City streets in Arkadelphia were mostly clear, Police Chief Jason “Shorty” Jackson told The Arkadelphian.

Any power outages caused by the winter storm had been restored by Wednesday morning. Before sunset Tuesday, Entergy Arkansas had reported about 100 Amity customers without power, and at about 9:30 p.m. South Central Arkansas Electric Cooperative reported some 1,400 meters affected in Amity, Alpine, Point Cedar and Bismarck. Crews worked until about midnight to restore power to those customers.

The area isn’t out of the wintry woods just yet. The National Weather Service in Little Rock placed Clark and much of South Central Arkansas under a Cold Weather Advisory until noon Thursday.

The central and southern portions of the state will see temperature values Wednesday from near zero to the single digits, and from 5 above to 5 below zero Thursday.

The Arkadelphia forecast calls for a low Wednesday night of around 7 with wind chill values as low as -2, with little temperature change into Thursday. Highs both days will remain below freezing.

The NWS warns that such frigid temperatures can cause frostbite and hypothermia if unprotected skin is left exposed. Wind chill values may lead to hypothermia with prolonged exposure. Residents are urged to wear appropriate clothing, a hat and gloves when outdoors.

Following a mostly clear but cool weekend, temperatures will warm to 70 by Tuesday.