Dangerous temperatures, coupled with snow, are expected over the holiday weekend, according to the National Weather Service in North Little Rock.
Dylan Cooper, a NWS meteorologist, said while there will be "impactful snow" with the storm, temperatures will be "brutal and dangerous."
"If you remember the big arctic outbreak from February 2021, we're going to be very close to what we saw with that," he said Friday afternoon. "Not as much snow with this, but the temperatures are going to be very comparable to what we had then, and that gave us all kinds of issues. So dangerous cold, pipes are going to burst."
Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Friday declared a state of emergency in Arkansas in anticipation of a severe winter storm, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported.
The governor directed that $250,000 of the Governor's Disaster Response and Recovery Fund to be used at the discretion of the director of the Arkansas Division of Emergency Management, AJ Gary, to defray program and administrative costs, according to a proclamation she signed Friday.
Garland County is under a wind chill advisory from noon Sunday to noon Tuesday, and a winter storm watch from Sunday afternoon to Monday afternoon, issued Friday by the National Weather Service.
Temperatures are expected to drop into the single digits from the weather event, and it could be deadly.
"I told somebody earlier -- and it sounds kind of like a dire message, but it's the reality of it -- pets that are left outside probably will not survive this," Cooper told The Sentinel-Record.
"Pipes that are left unprotected are probably going to freeze. That could cause you know lots and lots of issues. People that don't have adequate shelter or heating, that's going to be a really big concern. So definitely a situation where you're going to want to reach out and check on your people and make sure that you are prepared because (today) is the last kind of warm-ish day that we have."
Much of the state will receive 3-5 inches of snow starting Sunday evening, Cooper said.
"We're expecting a widespread area of 3 to 5 inches of snow, and really that's going to encompass, we'll say, all but maybe the southern couple of rows of counties," he said.
"Somewhere in the vicinity of central Arkansas, including Little Rock, we expect for there to be a band of heavier snow that develops. How much that's going to produce -- not entirely sure. There are a lot of things that we're going to have to resolve in the data before we can say specifically, but it looks upward of 6 to 8 inches, maybe locally higher than that."
The National Weather Service predicts a high of around 34 degrees in Little Rock on Wednesday, but Cooper said that will likely change.
"Most of the state is going to see 3 to 5 inches, which is a pretty significant snow for us, with some areas in central and perhaps southern Arkansas seeing more than that," he said.
"If we get that kind of snow, that is going to prolong the cold temperatures. In situations like this, if you get a good snowpack -- for example, on Wednesday, we are technically forecasting 34 for the high at Little Rock. But if we have 6 inches of snow on the ground, there's no way we're going to get to 34 for a high that day."
This weather event is due to the polar vortex being "dislodged" from keeping arctic air farther north, Cooper said.
"All the polar vortex is, is what keeps the arctic air near the Arctic," he said. "When it gets dislodged, like it is this year, you can see these outbreaks where you get true arctic air. And we're talking about literally coming from the north pole that slides down the front range of the Rockies all the way through Canada, and down into the U.S. And that's really what this is."
Warming shelter update
The emergency warming shelter at First United Methodist Church's Family Life Center opened Friday and will remain open through Wednesday morning. Organizers have filled volunteer slots through Sunday night and will fill the remaining openings over the weekend.
"I'm so proud of the volunteers," Sally Carder said. "We are full until (Sunday) night, and after we see what the snow's going to do, that'll all fill up."
In addition, the shelter received enough food to make it through the dates it is scheduled to remain open.
"We've got more food, more -- we've got more of everything than we've ever had," Carder said. "I've never seen as much, and we're trying to go through everything now and get it ready. We're doing great, and I even put out on Facebook this morning, we've got enough of everything. And then, of course, we'll put out later on, if we stay all week, we'll put out what else we need."
Recreation areas
Hot Springs announced Friday morning the city would be temporarily closing all the restrooms in the city parks due to the weather.
"Pipes will be winterized to safeguard against breaks and leaks. With no water available, the doors will be locked," the news release said, noting the bathrooms would be closed starting Friday night.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers made the decision Thursday to close some of its facilities due to the weather.
"In advance of the upcoming inclement weather, Lake Ouachita will be temporarily closing or partially closing shower buildings and comfort stations across the project beginning today," a message on the Corps' Facebook page for the lake said.
"These facilities are not built to sustain prolonged extreme low temperatures. Facilities are expected to be reopened on 18 January 2024. We apologize for any inconvenience," it said.
Hot Springs National Park is expected to remain open as usual, according to the park's interpretation program manager.
"Right now, the most that we're doing is just warning people that there is potentially hazardous weather in the forecast and urging them to exercise caution," Ashley Waymouth said.
"But we won't know what our operations look like until it actually hits. ... If road conditions are hazardous, then the Fordyce probably would close or would move to a delayed start, and our park roads would close or would move to a delayed opening until they were safe to open.
"It's really our law enforcement that makes that final decision. They go through, and they do a thorough hazard analysis to determine what's the safest mode of operation for employees and for visitors, and then we kind of go from there."
No changes are planned for Ouachita National Forest, according to the forest recreation program manager.
"Most of our bathrooms are vault systems, so we don't have any water we have to deal with. And they're pretty rugged, being built in the 1930s, and they've lasted this long," Bill Jackson said, noting most of their campgrounds were closed down for the season a few months ago.
Donated food fills the kitchen at the Cupp Family Life Center at First United Methodist Church. (The Sentinel-Record/Lance Brownfield)
Workers fold clothes in preparation for the opening of the emergency warming shelter at Cupp Family Life Center at First United Methodist Church. (The Sentinel-Record/Lance Brownfield)