textproduct: Little Rock

KEY MESSAGES

Issued at 234 AM CST Sun Jan 25 2026

- The second round of the major winter storm across Arkansas will continue to bring a mixed bag of precipitation through this morning before shifting east of the state for the most part by this afternoon.

- An Extreme Cold Warning continues through early this week, with sub- zero minimum wind chill values possible Saturday through Monday mornings.

- Hazardous travel conditions are expected to continue through at least the beginning portions of this week, as multiple thaw and freeze cycles will unfold, resulting in slippery morning road conditions.

DISCUSSION

Issued at 234 AM CST Sun Jan 25 2026

The second round of the well advertised winter storm is underway, with primarily snow and sleet observed across the state. The warm nose aloft that is causing this mixed precipitation is very pronounced, as the 06z LZK sounding depicts about a 225-250 mb layer above freezing aloft, maximizing at +7.3 Celsius. Despite this very strong warm nose, precipitation across central Arkansas continues to be sleet. Thus, the only change to the forecast moving forward is sleet reaching most of northern Arkansas, as seen in several hours of observations as far west as Harrison.

Current radar shows a shield of snow and sleet situated across west central to north central Arkansas, with some showery activity to the south and east. Based on hi-res model trends, this shield of precipitation will move decently quick eastward, as the colder air aloft filters in from the northwest. This will cause the sleet line to dip to the southeast throughout the morning hours. Any freezing rain will be very limited across the state, favoring southeastern Arkansas through the rest of the event.

Additional amounts include the following:

Snow: 2-4 inches favoring the northwestern counties, highest amounts across higher elevations. Trace to up to an inch of snow across central Arkansas.

Sleet: One half inch to an inch of sleet favoring a line from southwestern to northeastern Arkansas and south, highest amounts favoring central Arkansas and north.

Freezing Rain: While some accumulations are possible with the peak of the warm nose occurring now and over the next few hours, no more than a trace to a few hundredths of an inch of accumulations are expected. These chances will quickly dissipate with the colder air aloft filtering in after 12z.

The main concerns moving beyond this afternoon will be the extreme cold that will continue into early this week. Temperatures will bottom out tonight, as lows reach the single digits above central Arkansas south and single digits below across northern Arkansas. With clearing conditions on Monday, overnight lows will continue to remain bitterly cold in the single digits, with guidance likely under doing areas that have sufficient snowpack that'll efficiently radiate more heat to result in much cooler temperatures. Thus, the Extreme Cold Warning remains in effect through Tuesday morning.

With these cold temperatures continuing beyond this event, there is concern that difficult travel conditions could persist throughout most of this upcoming week. Warmer temperatures near freezing through the middle portions of the week would cause melting during the daytime hours, with refreezing resulting in slick driving conditions during the following morning's commute. Guidance has trended colder, so the odds of seeing multiple days that is sufficiently above freezing mid to late week is lower, particularly for central and northern Arkansas.

Extended guidance continues to advertise another Pacific trough that will deepen across the western U.S. late this week and into the weekend. Trends continue to show this trough deepening enough that dry northwesterly flow would remain overhead, thus precipitation chances remain very low to none at this time. However, this feature is worth monitoring should this trough not amplify as deeply, as that could usher in higher moisture levels and in turn increase precipitation chances for this upcoming weekend.

AVIATION

(18Z TAFS) Issued at 1038 AM CST Sun Jan 25 2026

Expect a transition of CIGS and VSBY to begin the forecast period across all terminals in MVFR or IFR flight category before improving to VFR across all sites by early Monday morning. The last push of wintry precipitation is quickly moving across parts of northern and central Arkansas in the form of light snow. The wintry precipitation will be exiting the state by Sunday evening and the cloud deck will begin to lift in response from west to east. A few terminals will experience surface wind gusts in excess of 22 knots, but these surface winds will lax by Sunday evening. The terminal of KBPK has been designated as "AMD NOT SKED" due to a communication issue which is in the process of being troubleshot, but due to no observations, the "AMD NOT SKED" will remain.

PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS

Batesville AR 18 -2 17 2 / 90 0 0 0 Camden AR 24 3 26 3 / 90 10 0 0 Harrison AR 15 -9 18 4 / 80 0 0 0 Hot Springs AR 21 1 23 3 / 80 20 0 0 Little Rock AR 19 0 19 2 / 90 10 0 0 Monticello AR 24 7 24 4 / 100 0 0 0 Mount Ida AR 22 -2 25 3 / 60 20 0 0 Mountain Home AR 16 -5 18 2 / 80 0 0 0 Newport AR 18 0 14 2 / 100 10 0 0 Pine Bluff AR 20 3 20 3 / 100 10 0 0 Russellville AR 21 -6 20 -3 / 70 0 0 0 Searcy AR 18 -3 17 -1 / 90 10 0 0 Stuttgart AR 18 2 15 1 / 100 10 0 0

LZK WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

Extreme Cold Warning until noon CST Tuesday for ARZ004>008- 014>017-024-025-031>034-039-042>047-052>057-062>069-103-112-113- 121>123-130-137-138-140-141-203-212-213-221>223-230-237-238-240- 241-313-340-341.

Winter Storm Warning until 6 PM CST this evening for ARZ004>008- 014>017-024-025-031>034-039-042>047-052>057-062>069-103-112-113- 121>123-130-137-138-140-141-203-212-213-221>223-230-237-238-240- 241-313-340-341.