Winter Weather — Pike, Arkansas

2020-01-22 to 2020-01-23 · Pike, Arkansas

Event narrative

The observer estimated 0.3 inches of primarily sleet.

Wider weather episode

But all was not well in the higher elevations of the Ozark and Ouachita Mountains of the north and west. A balloon launch from North Little Rock (Pulaski County) at 600 pm CST on the 22nd showed a layer of subfreezing air not far above the ground and extending to around 3000 feet.

An inversion (rising temperatures) existed farther aloft at 4000 and 5000 feet. Snow and sleet that fell through this layer tended to melt, and then froze in the subfreezing layer.

During the evening of the 22nd, an ice storm was in progress. Photos showed some buildup on branches near Mountain Home (Baxter County). A check of temperatures at a few mountain locations at 400 am CST on the 23rd revealed a reading of 29 degrees at Jasper (Newton County), and 31 degrees at Alco (Stone County) and Compton (Newton County).

In the end, more than a half inch of ice accrued on exposed objects in places such as Botkinburg (Van Buren County), Deer (Newton County), Moreland (Pope County), Mount Magazine (Logan County), Ozone (Johnson County), and Witts Spring (Searcy County). Ice was the most significant at elevations above 1500 feet. The weight of the ice downed numerous trees and caused hundreds of power outages.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 873979. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.