Arkansas was hit by one of the largest winter storms in nearly a decade a few weeks ago. The wintery weather hit in two different waves for central Arkansas.
According to the Little Rock National Weather Service, Central and Southwest Arkansas experienced 8-10 or more inches during the first storm which took place Feb. 14-15, and 2-6 inches during the second storm on Feb. 17.
The total snowfall from Feb. 14-18 was 10-18 inches. The freezing temperatures were also record breaking, dropping all the way down to 1 degree at one point.
Freezing temperatures over several days allowed for the snow to stick around for a while even after it had stopped falling. Two weeks later, some snow still has not melted.
Arkansas is not used to weather like this, and many citizens experienced frozen pipes and power outages.
The weather led to Conway Corporation having to engage in forced outages which left customers without power for thirty minutes at a time or more.
Customers were also asked to drip their faucets and take precautions to conserve energy and water.
The snow made it nearly impossible to travel, which left many UCA students who lived off campus unable to attend in-person instruction.
On Feb. 14, President Davis sent out an email to all UCA students stating that in-person instruction would continue to be remote for the following day. This was before power outages became a concern for many students and he suspended classes till the end of the week.
In a Feb. 18 email President Davis said, “Due to the continuation of dangerously cold temperatures through Friday and our ongoing concerns about power disruptions throughout this region of the U.S. that could impact remote instructional delivery, all classes will continue to be suspended through Friday, Feb. 19.” Those who live on campus, ended up stuck on campus.
Michael Frost, a junior at UCA, was one of those students and experienced disruptions to his daily routine. “Classes were cancelled after the first day so that was a nice change, it gave me time to enjoy the snow. It definitely made it hard to walk places before they started clearing it.
I had to shuffle through like a foot of snow all the way to the student center to eat,” said Frost. The cancellation of classes allowed for students to really enjoy time in the snow.
“I built some snowmen around campus, me and my friend built a snow fort, and there was a snowball fight in the New Hall/Farris courtyard. I thought the snow was awesome. It made the campus look really pretty and tranquil and it was fun to play in.” said Frost. “I have never seen so much snowfall before last week! On the first morning [before the repeat snowing], I walked out of my door to get food from the cafeteria and found that the snow came up to above my ankles. “
The subsequent cancellation of school made for a few really nice snow days, where my friends and I couldn’t go anywhere and we were “stuck” relaxing inside” said another student living on campus.
Most of the snow eventually melted and UCA went back to normal operation.