An ARDOT traffic camera shows a smattering of vehicles braving the icy highway early Saturday morning, Jan. 24, 2026. | Arkansas Department of Transportation
The Arkadelphia area awoke Saturday, Jan. 24, to a blanket of sleet as Winter Storm Fern dumped a wintry mix onto Arkansas overnight.
Just after sunset Friday a brief period of rain left an icy glaze on most objects, followed by light sleet that continued throughout the nighttime hours.
By sunrise Saturday, Arkadelphia had gotten about 1/2 inch of the white stuff, and is forecast to receive more as Saturday was to bring the brunt of wintry precipitation. Elsewhere in the state, half an inch of snow had fallen at Little Rock’s Adams Field airport, and in the southwestern corner of the state, nine-tenths of an inch of freezing rain and sleet was recorded at Texarkana’s airport, according to the National Weather Service.
It appears that most have taken heed the advice to stay indoors and off the roads. A traffic camera at Arkadelphia’s exit on Interstate 30 showed only the occasional passing 18-wheeler on an otherwise empty, stark-white highway. The Arkansas Department of Transportation was reporting that I-30 was covered with ice from Caddo Valley to Hope, with snow covering state-maintained highways farther north.
By midday, city street department crews were out plowing or salting roadways. Traffic in Arkadelphia was light. Head police officials warned residents to stay indoors, saying on their respective Facebook pages that their agencies had responded to numerous reports of vehicles sliding off roadways and into ditches.
As light snow continued falling into the afternoon hours, the iDriveArkansas app indicated a series of three accidents or stalled/disabled vehicles affecting the westbound lane along I-30 between the Friendship and Malvern exits, in neighboring Hot Spring County.
With the exception of major retailers and convenience stores, most locally owned businesses and restaurants were closed Saturday.
There were few power outages in the wider area before dawn Saturday. To the south, almost 150 Nevada County homes were without electricity Saturday morning, and, in neighboring Pike County to the west, fewer than South Central Arkansas Electric Cooperative customers were in the dark. Power had been restored to the area by noon.
Saturday’s high temperature in Arkadelphia maxed out at 18 and is expected to fall to 11 tonight. Sunday’s high will be in the mid 20s, with a nighttime low of 3. Expect similar temperatures on Monday.
Conditions throughout the region are expected to worsen as more ice accumulates on trees and power lines. Arkadelphia’s forecast for Saturday night called for up to three-tenths of an inch of ice, in addition to less than an inch of sleet.
Less than half an inch of sleet and snow is expected Sunday morning. The wintry precipitation should move out of the area before noon Sunday.
Dangerous travel conditions are expected through the first few days of the coming week.
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