A cold front moved into western Arkansas on the 20th. The passage of the front replaced mild air with much colder air.
Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
The episode as NWS LZK wrote it up.
A cold front moved into western Arkansas on the 20th. The passage of the front replaced mild air with much colder air. As an upper level low pressure center encountered moisture in the colder air, snow fell in parts of western Arkansas from the evening of the 20th through much of the day on the 21st.
The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Little Rock, AR wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Mar 20, 5:39 PM CST, 1 hour 51 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LITTLE ROCK AR 639 PM CDT SAT MAR 20 2010 .AVIATION... CONDITIONS DETERIORATE SIGNIFICANTLY AS THE FRONT PUSHES EAST ACROSS THE STATE. CONTINUE TO EXPECT MVFR AND IFR CIGS AND VIS WITH THE RAINFALL ALONG AND BEHIND THE FRONT. KEEP CONDITIONS DOMINANT MVFR AND IFR THROUGH MUCH OF THE TAF PERIOD AS RA CONTINUES OFF AND ON THROUGH THE TAF PERIOD. WILL SEE RA MIX WITH SN/PL AT HRO OVERNIGHT...THEN EVENTUALLY TO ALL SN TOMORROW AFTERNOON. HOWEVER...JUST EAST...MID LEVELS WILL BE WARM ENOUGH TO SEE MAINLY RA...OCCASIONALLY MIXING WITH SN/PL. FURTHER SOUTH...WILL SEE RA...OCCASIONALLY MIX WITH SN TOMORROW AFTERNOON. SN GROWTH ZONE THEN DRIES OUT DURING THE LATE AFTERNOON...WITH MAINLY DZ POSSIBLY MIXING WITH SN AT CENTRAL AND SRN SITES. && .PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 300 PM CDT SAT MAR 20 2010/ DISCUSSION... BULK OF PRECIP HAS BEEN POST FRONTAL TODAY...WITH SMALL STORMS POPPING UP ALONG THE NEARLY STATIONARY BOUNDARY THIS AFTERNOON. STILL WOULDNT EXPECT THESE STORMS TO ORGANIZE...WITH MOSTLY COLD RAIN EXPECTED THE REMAINDER OF THE AFTERNOON. HAVE ONLY ISOLATED THUNDER MENTIONED. MODELS CONTINUING TO SHOW COLD AIR SPILL INTO THE REGION FROM THE WEST AFTER SUNSET. WENT AHEAD AND STARTED THE WW ADVISORY A FEW HOURS EARLIER...WITH SNOW ALREADY CROSSING THE BORDER. MODELS STILL SHOWING COLDEST TEMPS ALOFT TO RIDE SOUTH AND THEN EAST OF THE CWA...WITH WARM/DRY AIR WRAPPING AROUND INTO CENTRAL ARKANSAS ON SUNDAY. WENT AHEAD AND ADDED SLEET TO PARTS OF CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN ARKANSAS SUNDAY NIGHT...WITH SECOND WAVE TO ACCOMPANY THE DEPARTING LOW. HOWEVER WITH SOIL TEMPS AS WARM AS THEY ARE...DID NOT GO WITH ANY ACCUMULATION ACROSS SOUTH AND EAST ZONES. KEPT SNOW ACCUMULATIONS SIMILAR TO LAST ISSUANCE...BUMPING THEM UP SLIGHTLY ACROSS EXTREME WESTERN ARKANSAS. BELIEVE THIS WILL BE THE AREA TO WATCH...WITH THE MOST AVAILABLE MOISTURE AT THE TIME THE COLDER AIR ARRIVES. TEMPS WILL BE WELL COLD ENOUGH ACROSS NORTH ARKANSAS...BUT AM CONCERNED WITH THE DRY SLOT ROTATING AROUND AND CUTTING OFF MOISTURE. WENT WITH SLIGHT POPS INTO MONDAY MORNING...WITH MORE OF A FLURRY/DRIZZLE SITUATION BY THIS TIME. TEMPS WILL REBOUND THROUGH THE WEEK...WITH HIGHS BACK IN THE 60S AND LOWS IN THE 40S. NEXT WEATHER MAKER WILL MOVE IN FOR THURS/FRI...BRINGING THE NEXT CHANCE OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS. UNLIKE THE LAST SET UP...THIS UPPER LOW WILL BE POSITIONED FURTHER NORTH WITH LIQUID PRECIP ONLY. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... BATESVILLE AR 42 46 37 55 / 100 100 60 30 CAMDEN AR 34 41 34 56 / 100 90 40 10 HARRISON AR 36 39 34 53 / 100 100 60 30 HOT SPRINGS AR 36 40 33 55 / 100 90 50 20 LITTLE ROCK AR 40 42 35 55 / 100 90 60 20 MONTICELLO AR 37 42 35 55 / 100 90 50 20 MOUNT IDA AR 35 39 33 55 / 100 90 40 10 MOUNTAIN HOME AR 39 41 36 54 / 100 100 60 30 NEWPORT AR 43 47 38 55 / 100 100 60 30 PINE BLUFF AR 39 43 36 55 / 100 90 50 20 RUSSELLVILLE AR 37 40 34 54 / 100 100 60 20 SEARCY AR 42 46 37 55 / 100 100 60 20 STUTTGART AR 41 46 37 55 / 100 90 60 20 && .LZK WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY UNTIL NOON CDT SUNDAY FOR BOONE-JOHNSON- LOGAN-MONTGOMERY-NEWTON-PIKE-POLK-SCOTT-YELL. && AVIATION...62
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LITTLE ROCK AR 800 PM CDT SAT MAR 20 2010 ARZ003>007-012>016-021>025-030>034-037>047-052>057-062>069-211000- ARKANSAS-BAXTER-BOONE-BRADLEY-CALHOUN-CLARK-CLEBURNE-CLEVELAND- CONWAY-DALLAS-DESHA-DREW-FAULKNER-FULTON-GARLAND-GRANT-HOT SPRING- INDEPENDENCE-IZARD-JACKSON-JEFFERSON-JOHNSON-LINCOLN-LOGAN-LONOKE- MARION-MONROE-MONTGOMERY-NEWTON-OUACHITA-PERRY-PIKE-POLK-POPE- PRAIRIE-PULASKI-SALINE-SCOTT-SEARCY-SHARP-STONE-VAN BUREN-WHITE- WOODRUFF-YELL- 800 AM CDT SAT MAR 20 2010 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR A LARGE PART OF ARKANSAS. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT COLD FRONT HAS PUSHED ACROSS MUCH OF ARKANSAS...NOW LOCATED OVER EASTERN ARKANSAS THIS EVENING. WIDESPREAD SHOWERS WILL CONTINUE BEHIND THIS FRONT OVERNIGHT...WITH TEMPERATURES CONTINUING TO COOL. TEMPERATURES HAVE ALREADY DROPPED FAR ENOUGH ACROSS EXTREME NORTHWEST ARKANSAS THAT PRECIPITATION HAS CHANGED OVER TO SNOW. AS THIS COLDER AIR SETTLES INTO THE STATE OVERNIGHT...TEMPERATURES ACROSS WESTERN ARKANSAS WILL GET COLD ENOUGH WHERE THE RAIN WILL BEGIN TO MIX WITH OR CHANGE OVER TO SNOW. A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY HAS BEEN ISSUED FOR WESTERN ARKANSAS FROM MIDNIGHT TONIGHT THROUGH NOON SUNDAY. ONE TO TWO INCHES OF SNOW WILL ACCUMULATE ON GRASSY AREAS AND ELEVATED SURFACES. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY THE UPPER LOW WILL MOVE ACROSS SOUTHERN ARKANSAS SUNDAY. RAIN AND SNOW WILL CONTINUE ACROSS THE AREA. BY SUNDAY EVENING THE LOW WILL BE PULLING OFF TO THE EAST. PRECIPITATION WILL COME TO AN END AND NORTH WINDS WILL INCREASE ACROSS THE AREA. HIGH PRESSURE AND DRY AIR RETURN FOR MONDAY AND TUESDAY. THE NEXT STORM SYSTEM WILL ENTER THE AREA WEDNESDAY WITH ANOTHER CHANCE OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS CONTINUING INTO EARLY FRIDAY. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED. HOWEVER...REPORTS OF WHEN RAIN MIXES WITH OR CHANGES OVER TO SNOW...AND REPORTS OF SNOWFALL AMOUNTS ARE WELCOME. && VISIT NWS LITTLE ROCK ON THE WEB. GO TO HTTP://WEATHER.GOV AND CLICK ON CENTRAL ARKANSAS. 51/62
2 winter weather, 2 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.
By 7 AM on the 21st, snow totals included 0.9 inch at Big Fork, 1.7 inches at Mena, and 2.5 inches at Bogg Springs. By early afternoon on the 21st, 4.5 inches of snow had accumulated at Queen Wilhelmina State Park (elevation 2681 feet).
By 6 AM on the 21st, an inch of snow had accumulated at Waldron.
By 11 AM on the 21st, 4 inches of snow had fallen near Everton, according to a public report. At 4 PM, the cooperative observer at Harrison measured 6 inches of snow. At 7:30 PM, there was a public report of 12 to 14 inches of snow at Gaither Mountain.
At 7 PM on the 21st, there was a public report of 9 inches of snow at Mount Sherman.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Arkansas in 2010Every state in 2010This day in weather historyWarnings in Arkansas, March 2010
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 222566, 222568, 222572, 222574.