Insights > Entergy Arkansas prepares for wintry weather

July 1, 2025

Entergy Arkansas employees have been preparing for a possible round of wintry weather this week. With the possibility of ice, snow and/or freezing rain starting Thursday night and lasting all day Friday, our crews are ready to serve you.

We are storm ready 365 days a year

To ensure our company is prepared for the coming winter weather, we continue to implement individual preparedness plans for each power plant and review transmission line and transmission facility measures, as well as the readiness of critical systems and infrastructure across the grid.

If a weather threat occurs, we are Expand support. We use forecasts and computer models based on experience with previous storms to predict damage and associated resource needs for recovery. Based on these estimates, the company can claim Restoration workers from all over the country if necessary to help our customers restore power safely and quickly. Entergy continually plans and improves the damage assessment process and puts personnel in the right place with the necessary materials to restore power as safely and quickly as possible.

We take measures to preserve and control vegetation in our service area and perform annual clearing of right-of-way areas to minimize the impact of fallen trees or branches following a storm. Before storms hit our area, vegetation crews conduct pre-storm patrols on racetracks to mitigate impending hazards within the right-of-way. Our year-round storm preparations include the Vegetation Management Program and the Targeted Ground to Sky Program. Pruning vegetationThis involves removing branches that would normally have been above the power line. We also use artificial intelligence and satellite imagery to predict when trimming may be necessary.

Ice is particularly harmful to electrical cables

Heavy snow and ice can bring down power lines. In fact, ice can increase the weight of tree branches by 30 times. In fact, just a half-inch layer of ice can add 500 pounds to the weight of power lines, as well as tree branches that could then fall on power lines and people. It’s safest to avoid the area near icy power lines and tree branches. Extreme cold can make materials like wood and metal brittle.

Sometimes ice can hit transmission lines and cause them to “gallop,” which can result in a power outage. This is a slow “jump rope” movement of power lines that occurs when rain freezes on the power lines and then steady winds cause adjacent lines to move and sometimes touch each other.

Restoring energy in extreme cold is different

The recovery process occurs in an orderly and deliberate manner. As soon as it is safe to work, our teams will turn the lights back on for our customers. Recovery efforts begin as scouts begin assessing the storm’s damage and crews begin necessary repairs at the source and work outward. Certain jobs, such as repairs that require the use of bucket trucks, cannot be performed safely in winds exceeding 30 miles per hour.

When temperatures are extremely coldWe need to bring customers back online in sections, rather than simply powering an entire power line at once. Restoring all customers on the same power line at the same time can result in large, immediate power demands. The immediate demand is different from daily operations and could be higher than the built-in protections in the lines are designed to handle. This is done for the safety of our customers and to avoid damaging our system or making the situation worse.

Customers can help too

During a winter storm, many customers leave their heating systems and appliances on. If your power goes out, there may be too much energy needed on the grid at once when power returns. This can cause additional problems. Customers without power can help by turning off essential devices. Leave a lamp or other light on to indicate when power is restored, then gradually turn on other devices to spread the increase in power usage over a longer period of time.

Customers should prepare now

If you are prepared, you can be confident. Prepare before weather threatens your area by creating an emergency plan. Find safekeeping resources at our Storm Center:

Check your contact information online myEntergy account before severe weather occurs so you receive our notifications. If a storm hits your area, you can quickly and easily report an outage using our digital options – either our free mobile apponline at myEntergy.com or by sending an SMS to 36778.