A light snowfall overnight accompanied by bitterly cold air forced the closure of county offices, except for the road and sheriff's departments, and delayed the opening of municipal offices on Tuesday.
All seven public school districts, in addition to National Park College, also elected to close, citing slick road conditions that resulted from the frozen precipitation and refreezing that occurred.
Along with the light precipitation, the mercury had barely reached 19 degrees by 11 a.m. Tuesday. The forecast high was only 23 degrees, with last night's low forecast at 11 degrees, with wind chill values as low as 4 degrees.
Garland County District Court sessions originally scheduled for 8:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. Tuesday were canceled due to the inclement weather. The public was initially told it could contact the court clerk's office at 321-6765 to reschedule, once the office opened at 10 a.m. But, following County Judge Rick Davis' decision to close Garland County offices for the day (see related article), the clerk's office was not open for phone calls. The office is scheduled to reopen at 8 a.m. today.
According to Jennifer Hoyt, media relations manager for Oaklawn Racing & Gaming, morning training hours were canceled Tuesday due to below freezing temperatures.
Hoyt said the track was sealed and maintenance crews were allowing the snow to "act like a blanket to keep warmth in."
At presstime, a decision had not yet been made for morning training today.
Hoyt said the gaming area opened with no delays on Tuesday; however, simulcast racing was canceled.
"All of our tracks that we simulcast races from canceled races today, so we had no product," she said.
Due to icy and snowy road conditions, city offices except public safety and the airport had delayed opening until 10 a.m., the city said in a news release.
Hot Springs Intracity Transit also delayed the start of service until 10 a.m. Tuesday.
"We've had very few accidents," Hot Springs police Officer 1st Class Joey Williams said shortly before noon Tuesday. "I'm only showing three (accidents) and only three traffic safety hazards.
"It seems that people are heeding the warnings to drive slow or stay off the roads."
Williams said side streets, especially those in shady areas, could be hazardous, but "most of the main roads are clearing up." He cautioned that the streets would likely refreeze overnight Tuesday and into Wednesday morning.
He also noted Carpenter Dam was "still pretty slick."
Roads were "very icy" all through Hot Springs Village, according to a Facebook post by the Hot Springs Village Police Department around 11 a.m. Tuesday.
"If you must drive please use extreme caution. The road crews are out putting sand down, but with the temperatures so low, the ice will still remain for some time," the post said.
It also noted Fresno from Carmona to Ponferrada, and N. Barcelona from Tomino to Paso Way were closed. Anyone needing assistance was asked to call the HSV police at 922-0011.
According to the National Weather Service, Garland County was covered by a band of precipitation that ranged in depth from a half inch to 2 inches. A Weather Service observer in Jessieville recorded an accumulation of 1.1 inches. The highest amounts in Arkansas were across the far northern part of the state, and across the southeast. Camden came in at 6 inches and Gamaliel reported 5 inches, the Weather Service said.
Local on 01/17/2018