Decatur’s white Christmas

— A winter storm that stretched from Texas to the upper midwest, blanketed northwest Arkansas with up to four inches of snow and brought Decatur a white Christmas.

Warm balmy temperatures during the first part of the week plunged on Christmas Eve and a chilling rain fell most of the day. At dusk, the rain turned to blowing snow and sleet, that quickly covered streets.

Decatur firefighters and police worked into the early hours of Christmas morning helping motorists who were stuck on slippery streets. Highway 102 East was blocked for a short time near the Crystal Lake bridge when two drivers got stuck on the hill and abandoned their vehicles in the middle of the road. Tow trucks were called to move the cars before traffic could start moving again.

Side streets and back roads were still slippery on Monday afternoon, according to police chief Terry Luker. The weather caused a few minor accidents over the weekend and a number of cars went off the road, but there were no serious accidents reported in Decatur, he said.

More snow is in the forecast before the New Year. On Monday night, the National Weather Service issued a Winter Storm Advisory for Benton County, predicting between one and three inches of snow Tuesday night and Wednesday morning.

News, Pages 1 on 12/30/2009