Winter Storm Closes Schools, Businesses

County Hit With Sleet, Snow, Frigid Temperatures; All Roadways Covered

  • SLOW DAY ON MAIN STREET - A side-by-side makes a U-turn on an otherwise desolate Main Street in downtown Rison Monday morning. With schools, government offices and banks closed for the Martin Luther King holiday, very few motorist ventured out onto the icy roads.
    SLOW DAY ON MAIN STREET - A side-by-side makes a U-turn on an otherwise desolate Main Street in downtown Rison Monday morning. With schools, government offices and banks closed for the Martin Luther King holiday, very few motorist ventured out onto the icy roads.
  • Ice Pillars Over Kingsland
    Ice Pillars Over Kingsland
    RISON - An Artic cold front that brought sleet and snow along with three days of subfreezing temperatures shut sown schools, closed businesses and led to treacherous driving conditions as Cleveland County experienced its first winter storm of the season Sunday night and throughout most of the day Monday. Accuweather.com indicated that 1.4 to 2.5 inches of winter precipitation fell in the county Sunday afternoon through Monday evening, Jan. 14-15. According to the website, accumulations ranged from about 1 inch the northwest part of the county to about 2.5 inches in southeast section. Rison was listed as having 1.4 inches. Weather forecasts were predicting the winter precipitation to begin Sunday evening but light sleet mixed with some light snow began falling shortly after noon on Sunday. That trend continued throughout the afternoon before increasing overnight and throughout much of the day Monday. Much of the precipitation fell as sleet but transitioned to a powdery snow before ending late Monday afternoon. Though the accumulation totals were not as much as originally forecast, it was still enough to cover every roadway in the county. The Arkansas Department of Transportation (ARDOT) showed Hwy. 63 in Cleveland County as being snow covered by early Sunday afternoon, Jab, 14, on its idrivearkansas.com road conditions website. By Monday morning, both Hwy. 79 and Hwy. 167 in western Cleveland County were reported as being ice covered. Local government offices, post offices, banks and both local school districts were closed Monday for the Martin Luther King, Jr., holiday. Several businesses in the downtown Rison area also remained closed Monday due to the weather and driving conditions with some re-opening Tuesday. What did fall Sunday night and into Monday remained on the roads throughout Tuesday, prompting both the Cleveland County and Woodlawn School Districts to dismiss classes on both Tuesday and Wedn...

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