Piles of plowed ice bask in the midday sun at Arkadelphia Town Hall as near-freezing temperatures continue in the region. | Joel Phelps/arkadelphian.com
By JOEL PHELPS | arkadelphian.com
After three days of being cooped up indoors due to icy conditions left by Winter Storm Fern, local residents started trickling out of their homes on Tuesday.
Several braved still-icy footpaths along cleared city streets, hoofing it to retailers and returning promptly to the warmth of their homes, bags of goods in hand. Many motorists were out by midday as Arkadelphia’s main corridors had been cleared by snowplows. Most secondary streets remained covered in a blanket of slick ice, though many had been salted by street department crews.
Sheriff Jason Watson said secondary roads throughout the county remain dangerously slick, and anticipates they should be thawed and safe for travel by Friday. Still, many residents remain undaunted by the icy conditions, braving the slick roads for a trip to the supermarket.
At Walmart, the town’s busiest of retailers, shoppers were still finding bare aisles where bread and dairy products had been stocked in the days leading up to Fern’s arrival.
Most locally owned businesses and restaurants remained closed Tuesday.
Area schools and colleges remained shut another day—Henderson State and Ouachita Baptist universities were holding classes virtually through at least Wednesday. Arkadelphia Public Schools announced it would not hold classes Wednesday, Jan. 28.
The winter storm, which left the region covered in a mixture of sleet and snow, halted most government work, as Arkadelphia Town Hall and the Clark County Courthouse were still shut Tuesday. No sanitation routes ran Monday or Tuesday, and were expected to resume later in the week; likewise with the Clark County Sanitation Department. The courthouse would remain closed through at least Wednesday.
Although most of South Arkansas dodged the brunt of damaging ice accumulations, there were still local reports of collapsed structures—most notably several docks at Iron Mountain Lodge and Marina, on DeGray Lake. Elsewhere in the region, docks at Greers Ferry Lake sustained similar damages, and some Hot Springs-area retailers constructed of metal buildings had partially collapsed.
Ice-related accidents in South and Central Arkansas left two people dead, and at least eight injuries were reported.
Road conditions appeared to be improving, though heads of local law enforcement agencies warned residents that below-freezing temperatures at night would re-freeze any melt from warmer days. By Tuesday afternoon, the iDriveArkansas app showed Interstate 30 to be clear in Clark County, and Arkansas Highway 7 from Arkadelphia to Camden remained covered in ice. US Highway 67 from Arkadelphia to the Clark/Hot Spring County line was also covered in ice. Farther south, Arkansas Highway 53 that connects Gurdon to Arkansas Highway 24, was icy.
Check iDriveArkansas for the latest traffic conditions.
Forecast: More cold on the way
After four consecutive days of below-freezing temperatures, the mercury climbed Tuesday to a high of 38 with partly sunny skies, giving way to an overnight low of 17.
Daytime highs through Thursday will linger in the mid-40s with nightly lows in the low 20s. Thursday calls for a 20% chance of showers before midnight, according to the National Weather Service in Little Rock.
Friday, however, the thermometer will top out at a cold 36 and yield to a blistering low of 10 that night, followed by a Saturday high of only 28.
The extended forecast shows the warmest daytime high of around 47 on Monday, Feb. 2—Groundhog Day.
Discover more from
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
