Storms to rain down on most of Arkansas

A cold front today is likely to trigger scattered strong to severe thunderstorms across the state in the afternoon and evening, forecasters said.

Parts of east Arkansas are at an enhanced risk for severe weather hazards, which include up to golf-ball-sized hail, wind speeds up to 60 mph and a low possibility for an isolated tornado, their briefing states.

Much of the state, though, is listed at slight risk of experiencing severe weather, the briefing states. Forecasts show Northwest Arkansas, including Fayetteville and Fort Smith, is at marginal risk.

Compared with other states, Arkansas was spared the worst of a storm system that hit parts of the Southeast on Thursday and Friday, with tornadoes causing damage in areas of Alabama and Georgia.

But the state was hit by inclement weather March 17.

Coming into the day, the weather service had warned of a “strong cold front and intense upper-level storm system” sweeping into the state, with a break and a “second round of storms” in the afternoon.

Several counties in southeast Arkansas were under a tornado warning for parts of that day. After the tornado warnings, the National Weather Service issued weather warnings for parts of Desha, Drew, Woodruff, Searcy, Newton and Boone counties, which experienced 40 to 50 mph wind gusts, strong thunderstorms and hail.

Joe Goudsward, a meteorologist at the weather service office in North Little Rock, said there were reports of quarter-size hail as early as 1 a.m. in Bradley County, with golf-ballsized hail at 4 a.m. in Logan County and quarter-sized hail about 5 a.m. in Polk County.

The severe weather that began early March 17 caused power outages throughout the state. About 6,000 Entergy customers had outages, the company said.