NWS Little Rock, AR - Wintry Precipitation/Bitterly Cold on January 14-17, 2024

After a severe weather event on January 11th/12th, bitterly cold air poured into Arkansas from the Plains the next few days. This was the first real Arctic blast in the state since December, 2022.

As temperatures plummeted on the 14th, snow developed in the northwest and spread across the northern half of state through the evening. Farther south, mostly sleet and some freezing rain occurred. As of 1200 pm CST, thermometers showed single digits in the Ozark Mountains, and teens and 20s elsewhere.

Roads became snow and ice covered across much of the region. During the afternoon of the 14th, a pickup truck slid off of a snowy Highway 13 and into a tree just west of Searcy (White County). The driver (a man) was killed, and his wife was injured.

By the morning of the 15th, low temperatures were below zero in the Ozark Mountains. The low was -6 degrees at Compton (Newton County), Highfill (Benton County), and Rogers (Benton County), -5 degrees at Winslow (Washington County), -4 degrees at Strickler (Washington County), -3 degrees at Fayetteville (Washington County) and Harrison (Boone County), and -2 degrees at Mountain Home (Baxter County). Elsewhere, single digits and teens were common.

Daily record lows were broken (and shattered in some cases) at several locations on the 15th including Batesville (Independence County), Hot Springs (Garland County), the Little Rock Air Force Base in Jacksonville (Pulaski County), North Little Rock (Pulaski County), and Stuttgart (Arkansas County). There were numerous record cold highs in the teens and lower 20s.

There was one more small round of wintry precipitation on the 15th. By the time this event was over, parts of northern Arkansas had more than six inches of snow (a two-day total).

Zach (Searcy County) racked up 9.5 inches of snow, with 8 inches at Culp (Baxter County) and Saint Joe (Searcy County), 7.5 inches at Brockwell (Izard County) and just southwest of Marshall (Searcy County), 7 inches near Buffalo City (Baxter County), Calico Rock (Izard County), Deer (Newton County), Melbourne (Izard County), and Violet Hill (Izard County), 6.5 inches at Cherokee Village (Sharp County), and 6 inches at Glencoe (Fulton County), a couple of miles south of Kingston (Madison County), close to Pindall (Searcy County), and at Vendor (Newton County).

Toward central Arkansas, there were a lot of two to three inches accumulations. This included the Little Rock (Pulaski County) area. Across the south, a half inch to two plus inches of sleet and some snow was reported.

While the clouds went away on the 16th, the cold snap was not done. The morning began with a staggering -14 degree temperature at Gilbert (Searcy County), and -10 degrees at Fayetteville (Washington County). Compton (Newton County), Lead Hill (Boone County), and Winslow (Washington County) chimed in with -7 degrees. Even with sunshine, it was subfreezing day statewide.

In the record books, this was a three complete day stretch (January 14-16, 2024) with temperatures below freezing at Little Rock (Pulaski County). While it sounds miserable, check this out. Back in 1983, an historic Arctic blast kept temperatures under 32 degrees from December 19th through the 30th (12 days/a record long period). In February of 2021, we dealt with eight consecutive subfreezing days (the 11th through the 18th/the third longest period on record).

The frigid scenario carried on after dark, with single digit readings above and below zero at most sites as of dawn on the 17th. Arctic high pressure was overhead at this point (after building this way from Canada for several days), and this was arguably the most bone-chilling morning for many of us. Folks in Evening Shade (Sharp County) woke up to a -10 degree reading, and West Memphis (Crittenden County) and Jacksonville (Pulaski County) had -6 degrees and -3 degrees respectively. The 1 degree temperature at Little Rock (Pulaski County) was the coldest since February 16, 2021 (-1 degree). Before that, there was nothing that low until December 23, 1989 (-1 degree).

When the Arctic comes calling, there are usually consequences such as burst pipes and faltering water systems. Reports of water shortages were surfacing from multiple towns including Bearden (Ouachita County), Dierks (Howard County), Lonoke (Lonoke County), Mansfield (Scott/Sebastian Counties), Okolona (Clark County), Pangburn (White County), and Thornton (Calhoun County). It was a similar story in portions of Izard and Stone Counties.

During the afternoon of the 17th, temperatures climbed above freezing across most of Arkansas for the first time in three to four days (except in the east/northeast where readings stayed in the 20s to around 30 degrees).