| |
Temperatures |
Precipitation |
| Site |
Max |
Min |
Avg |
Norm |
Dep |
Hi |
Lo |
Sum |
Norm |
Dep |
| Fayetteville (NW AR) |
48.7 |
22.6 |
35.7 |
36.4 |
-0.7 |
74 |
-9 |
1.31 |
2.75 |
-1.44 |
| Harrison (NC AR) |
48.3 |
27.1 |
37.7 |
37.0 |
+0.7 |
75 |
2 |
1.47 |
2.67 |
-1.20 |
| Jonesboro (NE AR) |
45.6 |
26.5 |
36.0 |
38.7 |
-2.7 |
72 |
4 |
2.52 |
3.52 |
-1.00 |
| Fort Smith (WC AR) |
51.8 |
27.0 |
39.4 |
40.4 |
-1.0 |
74 |
4 |
1.62 |
2.91 |
-1.29 |
| Little Rock (C AR) |
50.2 |
29.8 |
40.0 |
40.7 |
-0.7 |
75 |
11 |
2.71 |
3.50 |
-0.79 |
| Texarkana (SW AR) |
56.6 |
35.8 |
46.2 |
44.6 |
+1.6 |
80 |
14 |
3.22 |
3.64 |
-0.42 |
| El Dorado (SC AR) |
55.1 |
31.1 |
43.1 |
44.7 |
-1.6 |
75 |
12 |
1.74 |
4.39 |
-2.65 |
| Pine Bluff (SE AR) |
52.2 |
31.7 |
42.0 |
42.8 |
-0.8 |
78 |
15 |
2.43 |
3.82 |
-1.39 |
Monthly temperatures were near to below normal with rainfall totals below normal across Arkansas.
| High temperature records broken in January. |
| Site |
Record High (Date of Occurrence) |
| Batesville |
77 (1/6), 71 (1/7), 71T (1/8) |
| Harrison |
75 (1/6) |
| Jacksonville/LRAFB |
72 (1/1), 75 (1/6) |
| Monticello |
76 (1/6) |
| North Little Rock |
72T (1/6), 73 (1/8) |
| Pine Bluff |
77T (1/8) |
| Russellville |
76T (1/8) |
| Stuttgart |
72 (1/7), 74 (1/8), 71 (1/9) |
| Low temperature records broken in January. |
| Site |
Record High (Date of Occurrence) |
| Hot Springs |
14 (1/26) |
| Jacksonville/LRAFB |
9 (1/26), 7 (1/27) |
| North Little Rock |
9 (1/24), 12 (1/25), 9 (1/26) |
| Stuttgart |
12 (1/24), 15 (1/25), 12 (1/26), 15 (1/31) |
Above normal temperatures and dry conditions were noted across Arkansas for much of January, but a major winter storm brought significant impacts in late January.
|
The 2025-2026 winter season had been largely quiet across most of Arkansas with little if any winter weather occurring along with an extended period of well above normal temperatures. In addition to the well above normal temperatures, extremely dry conditions had been observed as well. This led to D3 and D4 drought conditions being in place across portions of central, north-central and northeast Arkansas as of late January 2026. But, with little to no winter precipitation for the season and only limited periods of cold air, an outbreak of cold air and a major winter storm impacted Arkansas and much of the US in late January 2026.
From January 20-22 an Arctic airmass spilled south from Canada toward the southern United States. The cold air made it into the state from Jan 22-24. On the 24th, many locations across the state recorded their high temperature shortly after midnight, very early in the morning. Then, throughout the day temperatures fell steadily through the afternoon hours. By Saturday (Jan 24) afternoon, temperatures across the state were in the single digits to teens across most of the state.
In combination with the very cold air in place, the subtropical jet stream was in position to provide a constant supply of moisture over the region and much of the US from Jan 23-25. For Arkansas, this led to precipitation occurring from the evening hours of Jan 23rd through the afternoon hours of Jan 25th. But, what made the forecast so complicated was a layer of warm air several thousand feet above the surface. Across northern Arkansas, this layer wasn't very warm and primarily snow fell during the storm with some sleet observed at times. But, for much of the rest of the state the layer of air was warm enough to allow sleet to be the primary form of precipitation. While there were periods of freezing rain and snow across western, central and eastern Arkansas sleet made up the bulk of the precipitation. There was concern ahead of time across southern Arkansas that the warm layer aloft would be so warm that freezing rain would be the primary precipitation type, but the bulk of the freezing rain for this event fell across portions of northern Louisiana, northern Mississippi and central Tennessee.
In addition to significant travel impacts, business and school closures, there was quite a bit of damage from this winter storm. Due to the massive amounts of sleet in place across many areas, numerous docks, poultry houses, roof structures and entire businesses collapsed due to the heavy weight of the winter precipitation.
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| In the picture: Snowfall and sleet totals from January 23-25, 2026. Click to enlarge. |
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| In the picture: Freezing rain totals from January 23-25, 2026. Click to enlarge. |
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