Saturday night into Sunday morning, very cold air sets in across Arkansas. Overnight lows will drop into the teens for many communities, including Little Rock. Mostly clear skies are expected with calm, northwesterly winds.
But even a wind gust up to 15 miles per hour, which is possible, will make air temperatures feel even colder. Some wind chills could drop to below 0 degrees for a community or two briefly on Sunday morning. Keep the cold in mind for overnight preparations, keep pets indoors and outdoor animals equipped to handle the cold, and bundle up if plans include heading out on Sunday morning.
Sunday through the day, winds will shift to be southwesterly and become breezy. Wind gusts between 20 and 25 miles per hour are possible, with some higher gusts likely in northern Arkansas. This means air temperatures will feel even colder than they read for much of the day, even if the wind is a warm, southwest wind.
Highs will reach the upper 30s to low 40s in central and northern Arkansas. In southern Arkansas, highs may make a break towards 50 degrees. Expect mostly sunny skies for the day.
Even though it’ll be a cold day, the risk of wildfire danger is still elevated. The state is so dry that this risk will continue until meaningful rainfall arrives. Practice wildfire safety precautions and report any visible smoke to local authorities.
A dry cold front blows through Sunday night into Monday morning, reinforcing cold air for Martin Luther King Day and into the start of the week. Highs start to warm a little by Tuesday with southerly flow returning, but another system on Wednesday ends that. Much-needed rain is expected on Wednesday, mainly showers.
Current data suggests Wednesday’s system to be a quick-mover. Overall rainfall totals are expected to be light. Most communities will receive between a fourth of an inch and a half of an inch of rainfall by Thursday morning.
Guidance also suggests more moisture returns by Friday of next week, and so does another system bringing rain chances. There’s also a chance that this system features a little wintry precipitation mixing in on the back end over parts of Arkansas on Saturday. However, this scenario is still far out in terms of forecast time. For now, the Team will monitor the trends and continue to watch how this could play out. Better data will shed light on this possibility by mid-week.
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