SPRINGDALE, Ark. – The National Weather Service (NWS) said satellite and radar observations indicated there was a brief period of snow Tuesday afternoon near Highway 71B in Springdale.

The blast of snow between about noon and 3 p.m. on Jan. 7 caused some slippery patches on the road and reduced visibility.

“As I set off, I saw trucks getting stuck in the snow. Even though it wasn’t like that, I think it was often very sticky now,” said Irvin Camacho, a local resident who was leaving the gym when the snowfall happened. “I got on Don Tyson and after about a minute of riding it was completely dry. There was no snow.”

These observations conflicted with forecast data from the 5NEWS weather team. So what happened?

According to Chief Meteorologist Skot Covert, the unexpected snow shower came from a very small pocket of moisture caused by a nearby industrial facility.

“We started seeing social media posts and that gave us clues that something was going on. Then we turned our eyes to the satellite images and we could see a little cloud of slightly higher clouds, and we knew it was a little bit of snow in the area,” said Steve Piltz, meteorologist in charge with the National Weather Service based in Tulsa.

He added that it was local effects that caused the snowfall.

“The local terrain may have played a role. “Sometimes we see it coming from bodies of water and sometimes we see it like power plants and other things that happen within a community where there’s just a little bit of extra heat, a little bit of extra moisture, etc. sometimes just a little bit more particulate matter in the atmosphere.” said Piltz.

Piltz said no meteorologist predicted it and it wasn’t on the radar.

“We did something like a summer shower where we all know we can get showers like that if it’s raining on one side of the street and not on the other,” Piltz said. “We added a little extra warmth, probably a little extra moisture, to the cold atmosphere, and it had to be balanced just right.”

“Probably around 10 a.m. or something, the traffic in front of my work started slowing down a lot, and then all of a sudden the road was really bad, and all these people were stuck driving up the hill to 71, and the traffic wasn’t moving.” said Levi Hodges, who works near the affected area. “I have colleagues a mile up the road who say, ‘It’s completely dry here.’”

The Springdale Fire Department (SFD) posted on Facebook that the surprise snow shower caused a car accident that required extrication.

“With the forecast rainfall and below-freezing temperatures, roads can quickly become dangerous,” SFD said.

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