As storms go, this one has been disruptive but not catastrophic, certainly not in the way that the same storm system walloped Texas.
On Wednesday, the snow came and came and then came some more until, counting on what fell Monday, there was a good 13 inches on the ground. At one point, a forecaster with the National Weather Service said Pine Bluff was in the heaviest band of snowfall in the state. The storm, the forecaster said, hearkens back to the one the city got in early 2000, when about a foot of snow fell.
But so far so good. The city has been trying to get the streets cleared and the same with highway crews, and people have been helping one another, lending four-wheel drive vehicles so doctors and nurses and staff can get to work.
And that’s not even to mention the cold. On Monday night, the teeth of the Arctic push of frigid air came through and left us at zero degree. One elderly gentleman said he couldn’t remember it being that cold in his lifetime. That may be pretty close to being right, considering the previous record for that night was 16 degrees set in 1905.
But no significant traffic accidents and apparently no power outages to speak of. The Entergy site showed just a handful of customers without electricity in the Pine Bluff area.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Certainly, with the weather, we get what we get. Had it been warmer and been freezing rain instead of snow, we don’t know that there would have been enough electricity to be writing this. During those ice storms of yore, electricity in some parts of the state was out for weeks at a time. Thankfully, that did not happen.
And while this pile of snow is too deep for many to drive in or even walk in, within a few days, we’ll be back to wearing sweaters and sunglasses next week.
The themes here are patience and reaching out to help others. Maybe we’re better at doing those things than we used to be. Maybe, with the roughing up we’ve taken from covid the past year, we’re a little tougher, a little more resilient. We noticed banks have been closed this week and if there’s been mail delivery, it’s been rare, and there’s not much food to buy at the store, etc., etc. Those things used to be a jolt to the system. Now, as we know, things will return to normal eventually. Stiff upper lip and all.