Snow, cold: was it a record?

Photo by Dodie Evans The record breaking early December snow that blanketed the area last Thursday and Friday, measured 7 1/2 inches as shown on this White Cane yard stick standing near the legs o...
Photo by Dodie Evans The record breaking early December snow that blanketed the area last Thursday and Friday, measured 7 1/2 inches as shown on this White Cane yard stick standing near the legs o...

WESTSIDE — This year, 2013, has been a record setter for weather events, the first being the 5-inch snow which blanketed Westside Eagle Observer country on May 4, the only snowfall ever recorded in May at the NOAA weather station in Gravette.

What about the 7-plus-inch snow that hit the area last week? Wasn't that a record early "big" snow for the month of December?

According to local records, which date back to 1926, it was on the following year, Dec. 7, 1927, a 5-inch snow was recorded. That was the deepest snow that early in the month until this year when 7-inches fell last week on Dec. 5, breaking the 86-year record.

But that isn't the deepest early snow! That record belongs to Nov. 17, 1926, when a 5-inch snow fell, according to A. F. Stevens, who maintained the weather station at his farm southeast of Gravette.

Stevens was also the observer in 1905 when the coldest temperature ever recorded in Arkansas was 29-below-zero on February 13. That station, originally called "Pond," existed before Gravette became a town. The station was moved into the town in 1933 at the death of Stevens.

Checking the original hand-written records from the past 87 years shows a 5-inch snow fell on Dec. 7, 1927, when the temperature dipped to 2 degrees above zero. Deep snows have occurred locally on numerous occasions during December: 7 inches on Dec. 23, 1966; 7 inches on Dec. 29, 1969, which was followed the next day with 3 inches. Ten inches were on the ground on the first day of 1970.

A 6.6 inch snowfall occurred Dec. 26, 1988; and 11 inches fell on Dec. 13, 2000, which ranks as the largest one-day amount. Larger amounts have accumulated over a two-day period, such as in late December 1989, when a total of 15 inches accumulated between Christmas day and the first of the year.

Temperature-wise, there has never been a zero day recorded locally during the month of November. The lowest reading for the month was 4 degrees on Nov. 17, 1959. The coldest December day was 16 below zero on Christmas day, 1989, with the earliest zero-day recorded on Dec. 18, 1929.

Recent years have seen an increase in moisture during December, along with warmer low temperatures. The lowest November temperature locally last year, 2012, was 21 degrees on Nov. 24. During December last year, the low for the month was 15 degrees on Dec. 29.

Weather statistics can vary greatly over a small area. Along Spavinaw Creek, south of Gravette, the temperature is usually several degrees colder in winter and cooler in summer than in Gravette. Rainfall and other precipitation can also vary widely, depending on weather currents and terrain factors. During summer months, it is sometimes possible to observe rain falling on one side of the street while none is falling on the other. The north side of town can experience quite a variation from the south city limits, as well as between Gravette and Decatur and Gentry.

Last week's frigid blast and heavy snow is often typical when the preceding day or two records unseasonably warm temperatures, such as the 70 degree temps that occurred in the area last week.

Weathercasters have their own challenges in forecasting accurate weather. Contrast that with forecasts by at least a few people who, tongue in cheek, rely on the color of woolly worms or whether a spoon, fork or knife is inside a persimmon seed.

What would the average citizen be able to talk about if it weren't for the fickleness of weather and comparing the extremes of the past? Didn't old-timers talk about walking an uphill mile, both ways, in the snow to attend classes in one room schools?

General News on 12/11/2013