It’s hard to believe, but it’s been five years since Arkansas went through the February 2021 deep freeze and back-to-back heavy snow events. Arctic air poured in and combined with storm systems riding the subtropical jet, setting the stage for a week that a lot of us still talk about.
On February 14–15, snow and sleet spread across the state, and some spots saw snow coming down at rates up to 2 inches per hour. Little Rock ended that first round with 8.4 inches, and the cold was already intense, with high temperatures stuck in the single digits and teens across much of the state.
Then came round two. Snow ramped back up late February 16 into February 18, and it was a bigger deal for parts of central and southern Arkansas. Little Rock picked up 11.8 inches in the second event, and travel became a mess in places, including a long standstill along I-40 near Biscoe where people ended up stuck for hours.
The cold was historic too, with -20° at Fayetteville and -1° in Little Rock, the city’s lowest reading since 1989. By the time it wrapped up, Little Rock had 20.3 inches of snow just in February (its snowiest February on record), and the snow depth hit 15 inches, tied for the all-time record there…