Pine Bluff saw its warmest reading in four days Tuesday, and it may have made for easier snowplowing from its major streets.
Mar’Tavius Proctor, projects and communications coordinator for the city, said as of 4 p.m. Tuesday street crews were salting and plowing Ohio Street from Harding Avenue to 62nd Avenue; Harding from Ohio to Olive Street; Old Main from 39th Avenue to Olive; Eighth Avenue from Ohio to Cherry Street; 27th and 28th avenues from Olive to Hazel Street; and the bridges on 28th, University Drive and Convention Center Drive.
Street crews will also make trips around the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff and Southeast Arkansas College once the work on the main thoroughfares are done, Proctor said. The university and college both announced it would conduct virtual learning and virtual business operations Wednesday.
Proctor added the Martha Mitchell Expressway and Blake Street appeared clear Tuesday.
Since Friday evening, when the most recent winter storm arrived in Pine Bluff, five vehicle accidents have been reported in Pine Bluff, none of them with injuries, Proctor said. Damages were reported in at least two incidents.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
A report of a house fire on Shannon Road, just within the western city line, emerged online Tuesday. An official report from Pine Bluff Fire and Emergency Services was not immediately available.
Six residential fires in Pine Bluff have been reported since the most recent winter storm, according to Proctor, but none have resulted in injuries. Residents in two of the house fires have been displaced, however, Proctor added.
City offices will be closed Wednesday due to the weather, but essential services will remain operational, the city announced through its alert system Tuesday evening.
State and federal highways in Jefferson County were covered in ice as of 4 p.m. Tuesday, according to IDriveArkansas.com. Slush was reported on Interstate 530 northward from the Jefferson-Pulaski county line, and ice patches were reported on U.S. 270 westward from the Jefferson-Grant county line, and U.S. 79 and U.S. 63 southward from the Jefferson-Cleveland county line.
While many of Southeast Arkansas’ highways were layered with ice, snow was still covering U.S. 65 and Arkansas 1 in Desha County, according to the website from the Arkansas Department of Transportation.
WEATHER
The temperature peaked at 42 degrees amid fair skies just before 1 p.m. Clouds increased throughout the afternoon, and a patchy fog was forecast to settle in the area Tuesday evening with a low of 19.
Mostly sunny skies are in the forecast through the rest of this week with highs of 39 on Wednesday, 44 on Thursday and 32 on Friday.
Lows will reach the low 20s on Wednesday and Thursday nights, as the National Weather Service predicts a 20% chance of snow showers for Thursday night. A cold front amid sunny skies Saturday will drop the mercury down to 10 degrees Friday night and leave a high of 25 for Saturday.
SCHOOLS
The Pine Bluff, Watson Chapel and White Hall school district campuses and offices will remain closed Wednesday.
The University of Arkansas at Monticello and its Colleges of Technology in Crossett and McGehee will pivot to virtual learning and virtual business operations Wednesday.
