Power Outage in Texarkana, AR

Several trees and power lines downed on Highway 71.

Widespread power outages reported.

Widespread power outages reported.

Trees and power lines were blown down across both the Arkansas and Texas sides of Texarkana.

Numerous utility poles were downed throughout Texarkana, resulting in widespread power outages across the city. SWEPCO reported that over 8,000 customers were without power. Several trees were blown down and some roofing damage was reported. Report from TXK Today Facebook post.

A tree was downed onto power lines in Garland.

Trees and power lines were blown down across the Arkansas side of Texarkana.

Several trees and powerlines were downed in Texarkana, Arkansas.

Numerous trees and power lines were blown down on Old Blackman Ferry Road near Union Road in Southeast Texarkana. A NWS Storm Survey confirmed that this damage was consistent with straight-line winds with wind speeds estimated between 85-95 mph.

Several trees and power lines were blown down across the eastern portions of Miller County, including in the Garland community.

Trees and power lines were blown down across County Roads 216, 217, and 43 just northwest of Fouke.

Several powerlines were downed in Texarkana, Arkansas. Some of these were found on Hwy. 71 and Blackmon Ferry Road.

Trees and powerlines were downed near the intersection of 10 and 17.

Trees and powerlines were downed across all of Miller County including across the Genoa, Fouke, Texarkana and Dodridge communities.

Powerlines were downed east of Texarkana, Arkansas.

Powerlines were downed along Hwy. 71 south of CR. 10.

Trees and powerlines downed in Texarkana.

Several trees and powerlines downed across the entire county.

Lightning hit a backyard tree, then moved onto a powerline which set the roof of a local residence on fire. There were no report of injuries.

Trees and powerlines were downed in the Liberty Eulau community.

Trees and powerlines were downed along Hwy. 196 and Hwy. 134.

Numerous trees and powerlines were snapped along Blackman Ferry Road and along CR 10. A porch and its contents were blown off the back of the home and strewn downstream one half mile. Damage also extended west to State Line Road. Injuries occurred along Blackman Ferry Road where a powerpole fell on a car injuring the driver and two passengers.

Numerous trees and powerlines were snapped along Blackman Ferry Road and along CR 10. A porch and its contents were blown off the back of the home and strewn downstream one half mile. Damage also extended west to State Line Road. Injuries occurred along Blackman Ferry Road where a powerpole fell on a car injuring the driver and two passengers.

The remnants of Tropical Storm Ike resulted in widespread trees and power lines downed throughout all of Miller County, Arkansas. Power outages were widespread as well with numerous residents without power during the height of the storm and days afterward. One tree was downed on a home in the county and a couple of other trees were downed on parked cars. There were no report of injuries.

Large tree limbs downed on power lines just north of the Bright Star community.

Large tree limbs were downed on power lines near the community of Genoa.

Two severe thunderstorms came together over the south side of the city. One severe storm was moving northeastward from southern Bowie County while the other was moving northwestward through Miller County. Both storms collided in an area just south of downtown Texarkana. As a result of the collision, the storm cores collapsed in an area just east of State Line Avenue over a several block area between 16th and 20th Streets. Numerous large trees were snapped or uprooted onto homes and cars in the Glendale Subdivision. As the survey expanded outward to the north near 24th Street and the Woodlawn Cemetery, trees were noted to have fallen in a north or northeastward direction typical of a microburst. Damage was found as far northeast as the Calvary Cemetery area with trees downed in a north to northeast direction. Trees were also uprooted and snapped on the Texas side of State Line Avenue with a heavier concentration along Magnolia Street between 24th Street and 30th Streets. It was noted that the trees fell in a northwesterly direction which would be expected if a microburst had occurred to the south and east of those locations. Numerous homes were damaged on the Texas side of State Line Avenue as a result. Powerlines were also downed throughout the area as a result of either poles snapping or trees falling on the lines. The area impacted by the microburst is approximately 3.5 miles long to the northeast of the origin and 4 miles in width from one end of the damage swath to the other. City and County officials estimate that 44 homes sustained major damage with an unknown number of vehicles damaged. At least 100 damage reports have been collected thus far. Only one minor injury occurred when a tree fell on a home injuring an elderly woman inside. All of Miller County was considered a disaster area after the damage that resulted from the microburst across the northern portion of the county.

Trees and power lines were downed along Hwy 71 south of Texarkana. A peak wind gusts of 53 mph was recorded at the Texarkana Regional Airport.

Several power lines were downed resulting in power outages to approximately 1500 homes and businesses.

Trees were downed on a house along Hwy 71. Powerlines were also downed.

Numerous power lines downed in town.

Strong winds blew power lines and poles down.

Trees and power lines down along Ferry Road and Highway 71 on the Arkansas side of the city of Texarkana.

After trying to recover from an ice storm two week earlier in the month, another even more devastating ice storm struck all of southwest Arkansas. Freezing rain resulted in ice accumulations ranging from 1/4 inch to as much as 6 inches. After taking a tour of the state, the Governor of Arkansas used words such as apocalyptic and cataclysmic to describe the damage. Power was knocked out across all of southwest Arkansas with nearly 300,000 homes and business without power due to thousands of trees and 2500 power poles either broken or toppled. Utility crews from 23 different states were summoned to help repair lines. Some residents were without power as late as the middle of January 2001.

An arctic air mass spilled southward out of the central plains and into the lower Mississippi Valley. This cold, surface air mass was overrun by a warm humid air mass which combined with a strong upper level storm system across west Texas. the result was widespread freezing rain across all of southwest Arkansas. The precipitation was a mixture of freezing rain, sleet and some light snow northwest of a Texarkana to Prescott Arkansas line while further east the precipitation was all freezing rain. Ice accumulations of two to four inches were common. An estimated 235,000 residents lost electrical power due to ice covered power lines snapping or ice covered trees splitting and falling across the lines. The was the worst storm in the history of the power companies suppling the power as far as damage but not total ice accumulations. A total of 29 transmission lines atop "H" shaped steel towers were snapped due to the weight of the ice. Numerous traffic accidents were also reported and many homes suffered damage from fallen trees and tree limbs. As a result, the Governor of Arkansas declared a State of Emergency for all of southwest Arkansas. Cleanup costs along reached upwards of 15 million dollars. Several Pine Plantations throughout southwest Arkansas suffered catastrophic damage from the ice storm with upwards of 25 million dollars worth of young trees destroyed.

Trees and powerlines down.

A deep southwesterly flow aloft prevailed across the Southern Plains and Lower Mississippi Valley on January 30th-February 2nd, ahead of a strong upper level low pressure system that drifted through Southern California, the Desert Southwest into Northern Mexico. Meanwhile, a strong but shallow arctic cold front shifted south through the Southern Plains on January 29th-30th, before slowing significantly in the higher terrain of the Ouachitas of Southeast Oklahoma and Western Arkansas. Weak upper level disturbances embedded in this flow ahead of the low resulted in widespread sleet and freezing rain across much of the Southern Plains given the warm air above this shallow, freezing air mass, with areas of light freezing rain affecting portions of East Texas, extreme Southeast Oklahoma, and Southwest Arkansas on January 30th-February 2nd. Temperatures through the period ranged from a couple of degrees either side of the freezing mark across portions of Southwest Arkansas, with light ice accumulations of a glaze, mainly on elevated objects such as bridges and overpasses, trees and power lines across Miller and Little River Counties. ||The following are freezing rain reports across Miller and Little River Counties in Southwest Arkansas:||Miller County: Texarkana: 0.01 inches.|Little River County: Ashdown: 0.01 inches.

A deep southwesterly flow aloft prevailed across the Southern Plains and Lower Mississippi Valley on January 30th-31st, ahead of a strong upper level low pressure system that drifted through Southern California, the Desert Southwest into Northern Mexico. Meanwhile, a strong but shallow arctic cold front shifted south through the Southern Plains on the 29th-30th, before slowing significantly in the higher terrain of the Ouachitas of Southeast Oklahoma and Western Arkansas. Weak upper level disturbances embedded in this flow ahead of the low resulted in widespread sleet and freezing rain across much of the Southern Plains given the warm air above this shallow, freezing air mass, with areas of light freezing rain affecting portions of East Texas, extreme Southeast Oklahoma, and Southwest Arkansas on the 30th-31st. Temperatures through the period ranged from a couple of degrees either side of the freezing mark across portions of Southwest Arkansas, with light ice accumulations ranging from a glaze up to 0.15 inches, mainly on elevated objects such as bridges and overpasses, trees and power lines. This extended duration of freezing rain persisted into the first couple days of February across these areas.||The following are freezing rain reports across various counties in Southwest Arkansas: ||Miller County: Texarkana: 0.01 inches. |Little River County: Ashdown: 0.01 inches. |Sevier County: De Queen: 0.01 inches. |Howard County: Nashville: 0.01 inches. |Lafayette County: Lewisville: 0.10 inches. |Columbia County: Waldo: 0.15 inches. |Union County: El Dorado: 0.09 inches.

A large and amplifying upper trough dug south through the eastern two-thirds of the United States along and east of the Rockies on December 22nd, which ushered in the coldest temperatures for December in decades to much of the country leading up to the Christmas Day holiday weekend. This very cold arctic air mass moved into extreme Southeast Oklahoma, Southwest Arkansas, and Northeast Texas during the morning hours of the 22nd, with temperatures falling sharply some 20-30+ degrees with the attendant cold frontal passage into the single digits by the morning hours of the 23rd. Very strong and gusty northwest winds of 35-45 mph were observed behind the front even through the morning of the 24th, producing a long duration of wind chill values ranging from 0 to as low as -11 degrees across Southwest Arkansas from the afternoon of the 22nd to the morning of the 24th. While the temperatures associated with this arctic air mass were not quite record-breaking for this time of year, the long duration of subfreezing temperatures, which persisted nearly 2 days, resulted in multiple reports of freezing and bursting of water pipes, as well as sporadic power outages across these areas.||Here are the lowest wind chill values recorded across Southwest Arkansas from December 22nd through the morning of the 24th:||Miller County: Texarkana Regional Airport, -10 degrees. |Nevada County: Emmet, -6 degrees. |Hempstead County: 6.5 West of Hope, -8 degrees.|Sevier County: De Queen Helms Sevier County Airport, -11 degrees; Ben Lomond, -8 degrees.

On the heels of the first winter storm and historically cold temperatures observed earlier in the week across all of the Southern Plains and much of the Lower Mississippi Valley, a second significant winter storm developed across much of these areas from February 16th-18th, with areas of heavy snow falling across much of Southwest Arkansas. Strong forcing and moisture associated with the next upper level trough to move atop the extensive arctic air mass in place resulted in heavier snowfall totals ranging from seven to in excess of twelve inches falling across Miller, Lafayette, Hempstead, Nevada, Columbia, and Union Counties. ||The following are snowfall totals that were recorded at various locations across portions of Southwest Arkansas from this second winter storm:||Miller County: 3 N Fouke: 11.5 inches, 5 SSW Texarkana: 11.0 inches, Texarkana Regional Airport: 8.0 inches. ||Lafayette County: 8 NNW Lewisville: 13.0 inches, Lewisville: 8.5 inches, Stamps: 5.0 inches, Bradley: 3.5 inches. ||Hempstead County: 1 SSW Hope: 14.0 inches, Hope: 12.0 inches. ||Nevada County: 1 NW Rosston: 14.0 inches, 1 ENE Prescott: 12.2 inches.||Columbia County: Magnolia: 6.8 inches, 1 SE Magnolia: 6.0 inches.||Union County: Calion Lock and Dam: 9.5 inches, South Arkansas Regional Airport (7 W El Dorado): 8.0 inches, El Dorado: 7.0 inches and 0.10 inches of sleet. ||When combined with the previous winter storm on the 14th-15th, widespread snowfall totals of twelve to in excess of twenty inches were observed across these counties in Southwest Arkansas. These totals crippled the region, making driving nearly impossible, with rolling blackouts further aggravated by the additional power outages the snow was responsible for. In addition, the weight of the snow from these two back to back winter storms also resulted in numerous metal carport canopies collapsing across Southwest Arkansas, with many homes and cars damaged.

Major Hurricane Laura tracked north northwest across the Central and Northern Gulf of Mexico from the Central Carribean Sea near Cuba, making landfall in Southwest Louisiana near Cameron around 1 am on August 27th as a strong Category 4 hurricane with maximum sustained winds near 150 mph, and a minimum central pressure of 938 mb. Laura remained a hurricane as it tracked north across Southwest and West-central Louisiana, before weakening to a tropical storm as it moved northeast across North-central Louisiana and South-central Arkansas. A combination of observed and estimated wind gusts ranged from 40-65 mph across Southern Arkansas, resulting in scattered to numerous downed trees and power lines over these areas from late morning through the afternoon before weakening as the remnants of Laura moved into Central Arkansas. Widespread rainfall amounts of 2-4 inches was observed across much of Southern Arkansas with the passage of Tropical Storm Laura. Given the progressive nature of this tropical storm, no flooding was reported.||Here are the peak wind gusts at various automated stations across the affected areas of Southern Arkansas:||El Dorado (Union County), 57 mph |Hope (Hempstead County), 42 mph|Texarkana (Miller County), 41 mph|Bluff City RAWS (Nevada County), 39 mph|Felsenthal RAWS (Union County), 37 mph||During the peak of the widespread power outages shortly after Laura's center of circulation exited North Louisiana during the afternoon of the 27th, 136,000 customers were without power in Western Louisiana, East Texas, and Southwest Arkansas, with nearly 108,000 Entergy customers without power across North-central and Northeast Louisiana, as well as South-central Arkansas.||Here are the known damage across various counties affected in Southern Arkansas:||Union County: Numerous trees and power lines were downed across the county. One large tree fell onto a home on West Cook Street and on Gale Place in El Dorado. Power was out to most of the county. ||Columbia County: Numerous trees and power lines down countywide. ||Lafayette County: Numerous trees and power lines down countywide. ||Miller County: Sporadic trees and power lines down across the county, especially across the southern sections of the county near Fouke and Doddridge. ||Hempstead County: Several trees and power lines down across the county. Interstate 30 east near mile marker 26 west of Hope was completely blocked by a fallen tree.||Nevada County: Trees and power lines were down across various locations in the county.

Remnants of a Mesoscale Convective System (MCS) shifted southeast across Southeast Oklahoma, Southwest Arkansas, and extreme Northeast Texas during the morning hours of July 29th, as a shortwave trough dropped southeast from Oklahoma into Arkansas and the Lower Mississippi Valley. While this complex of showers and embedded thunderstorms entered the region as non-severe, they gradually intensified as they moved across extreme Southern Arkansas and North Louisiana, in response to an unstable atmosphere that developed due to strong daytime heating as temperatures climbed to the mid and upper 90s. As a result, scattered severe thunderstorms producing damaging winds downed trees and power lines over extreme Southern Arkansas, before they spread southward across much of North Louisiana during the mid and late afternoon hours.

Scattered showers and thunderstorms developed during the afternoon of July 3rd, as an upper level low pressure area and its associated trough of low pressure, drifted west across much of Louisiana and Southern Arkansas, before entering East Texas late in the day. Temperatures climbed into the upper 90s to in excess of 100 degrees by early afternoon once these showers and thunderstorms developed, further enhancing instability and allowing some of these storms to become severe across portions of extreme Southwest Arkansas and East Texas. One such storm became severe over Texarkana, which produced a damaging downburst with measured severe winds of 66 mph at the Texarkana Regional Airport, and downed trees and power lines throughout the Arkansas side of the city. These storms eventually spread west into East Texas during the late afternoon hours.

An outflow boundary from showers and thunderstorms that developed over Southwest Oklahoma during the evening and overnight hours on April 10th became stationary over Northern McCurtain County Oklahoma into the adjacent sections of Western Arkansas during the early morning hours of April 11th. This boundary focused scattered shower and thunderstorm development through the morning of the 11th, with large scale forcing enhanced especially during the afternoon and evening hours as a weak upper level trough traversed the Red River Valley of Southern Oklahoma/North Texas into Southwest Arkansas. Afternoon heating and cooling temperatures aloft ahead of this disturbance contributed to moderate instability developing especially over Southeast Oklahoma, Northeast Texas, and portions of Southwest Arkansas, contributing to the development of several severe thunderstorms over these areas. Damaging winds were the primary severe weather mode over Southwest Arkansas, with numerous trees and power lines downed especially across the south side of Texarkana Texas and Arkansas, as well as adjacent Lafayette and Columbia counties. An isolated tornado was even spawned just east of Magnolia in Columbia County along the small line of severe thunderstorms. As the storms moved into a slightly more stable air mass across Northcentral Louisiana, they began to slow their southward motion such that heavy rainfall repeatedly moving over the same areas resulted in areas of flash flooding generally along and north of the Interstate 20 corridor. The storms weakened during the late evening hours as the instability diminished.

A cold arctic airmass filtered into the region in the preceding days of January 11th with temperatures mostly in the lower 30s. An overrunning moist airmass resulted in the development of mostly light rain across Southeast Oklahoma, Southwest Arkansas and the Northern third of Northeast Texas. After midnight on the 11th, this precipitation became light freezing rain but due to the temperature being at or just below freezing, ice accumulation was relegated to trees and elevated exposed objects including powerlines and some bridge surfaces. Ice accumulations were mostly near one tenth of an inch across the region.

During the early afternoon hours of July 23rd, a complex of showers and thunderstorms moved southeast into Eastern Oklahoma and Northwest Arkansas, after originally developing early that morning across portions of Nebraska and central Kansas. This complex encountered a very unstable air mass near a weak surface trough over Northern and Eastern Oklahoma and Northern Arkansas as it continued southeastward. At the same time, other scattered showers and thunderstorms developed over Central and Eastern Arkansas near this surface trough, while also aided by a weak upper level disturbance sinking south across Arkansas and the Mid-Mississippi Valley. The Eastern Oklahoma storm complex absorbed the growing storm complex over Central Arkansas, resulting in a large mesoscale convective system (MCS) intensifying and surging south into Southeast Oklahoma and Southwest Arkansas during the mid and late afternoon hours. Widespread wind damage was reported across much of Central and Southern Arkansas as well as Southeast Oklahoma, with a large cold pool of air surging south into Northeast Texas and North Louisiana by late afternoon and early evening. Wind gusts ranged from 50-70 mph with this MCS as it surged south across much of the Ark-La-Tex, resulting in numerous downed trees, power lines, and structural damage. This storm complex weakened during the early evening hours, although the resultant cold pool still produced 40-45 mph wind gusts which produced minor tree damage over portions of Deep East Texas that did not see showers or thunderstorms. Over 500,000 AEP SWEPCO customers were without power after the storms blew through, with many thousands of other customers with other utility companies also without power.

With a very cold atmosphere already in place, an upper level storm system moved out of the Texas Hill Country and into Northeast Texas, Southwest Arkansas and Northwest Louisiana during the afternoon hours of February 11th. Precipitation became widespread across the region late in the afternoon and especially during the overnight hours of February 11th and the 12th. During the onset of precipitation, a mixture of rain and sleet was the predominant precipitation type with some sleet accumulations near one quarter of an inch across portions of Southwest Arkansas. There was even a brief transition of moderate snow across portions of the region as well. During the evening and overnight hours of the event, the transition turned to predominantly freezing rain with ice accumulations mainly less than one quarter of an inch across Southwest Arkansas. Impacts included several automobile accidents that occurred from icing in elevated bridges and overpasses as well as isolated power outages from ice accumulating on limbs which fell across powerlines.

Vigorous upper level trough moved out of the Southwest United States and into the Texas Hill Country during the morning hours of the 4th. Upper forcing was felt well in advance of the trough across Southeast Oklahoma, the northern third of Northeast Texas into Southwest Arkansas with widespread precipitation breaking out. Temperatures quickly dropped below freezing during the late night hours of the 3rd into the predawn hours of the 4th and as a result, the light rain became mostly freezing rain with a mix of sleet and light snow. The temperatures did not climb above freezing until the mid morning hours of February 4th. Freezing rain accumulations across portions of Southwest Arkansas were mostly near one tenth of an inch. This resulted in ice accumulation on elevated objects only, including bridges, overpasses and powerlines. There were a few automobile accidents along with a few power outages.

The shallow cold airmass that took over across the region earlier was slow to move out of the region. Overnight low temperatures the night of January 8th and the morning of January 9th were right at freezing and as light rain and drizzle fell across the region, the result was a light coating of ice across mainly elevated objects such as trees, powerlines, bridges and overpasses. There were reports of traffic accidents once again across all of Southwest Arkansas.

Another cold shallow arctic airmass moved southeast out of the Southern Plains and into the Lower Mississippi Valley the first week of December. The shallow subfreezing airmass was overridden with a very warm and moist airmass such that freezing rain and sleet fell across the region. Ice accumulation was mainly less than one quarter of an inch but resulted in accumulation on bridges and overpasses, trees and powerlines. Some traffic accidents were noted across Southwest Arkansas during the height of the winter weather along with a few power outages.

A shallow cold layer of air moved out of the Southern Plains and into the Lower Mississippi Valley on the 24th of November. The flow aloft across the southern portion of the country was from the southwest. This resulted in an overrunning pattern of warm and moist air overrunning the cold shallow subfreezing air. The end result was a period of freezing rain and sleet across portions of Southwest Arkansas. Ice accumulation was mostly less than one quarter of an inch. Temperatures were well above normal before this airmass settled into the region so the ice accumulation was mainly on elevated objects such as bridges, overpasses, trees, powerlines and car tops.

Numerous showers and thunderstorms developed throughout the morning and afternoon of July 26th, ahead of a weak surface front and associated upper level disturbance which moved across the region. Surface low pressure developed during the early evening hours along the surface front, and enhanced the development of stronger convection across a warm and moderately unstable region in Southeast Oklahoma and Southwest Arkansas. These storms quickly became severe and produced damaging winds which downed trees and power lines across this region before diminishing over extreme North Central Louisiana by late evening. A secondary cluster of severe thunderstorms developed over Northwest Louisiana near this surface low and front, which surged southeast across West Central Louisiana during the late evening and early morning hours of the 26th-27th. Damaging winds again downed trees and power lines across these areas, before weakening prior to sunrise.

A strong cold front moved through the southern half of Arkansas during the evening hours of January 13th and the predawn hours of January 14th. Rain and a few storms accompanied the passage of this cold front across the southern half of the state. A very cold and shallow airmass followed the cold front yet southwesterly winds overran this cold shallow airmass above five thousand feet in the atmosphere. Meanwhile, weak disturbances moved towards the state from the west and with plenty of moisture still in place, overrunning precipitation developed during the morning of January 15th. With surface temperatures near or slightly below freezing, the precipitation fell as a mixture of sleet with some freezing rain noted as well. Accumulations were very light, mainly less than a tenth of an inch for the event. Regardless, bridges and overpasses quickly became slick resulting in numerous automobile accidents across the southern half of the state. In addition, there were some minor power outages from falling limbs due to the weight of the ice.

A significant winter storm affected all of Southwest and South Central Arkansas on Sunday, January 9th. This storm system moved out of the Texas Hill Country late on January 8th and moved into the Southern Plains and Lower Mississippi Valley during the day Sunday January 9th. An area of low pressure at the surface and in the lower levels of the atmosphere developed offshore the Southeast Texas Gulf Coast and remained offshore the Louisiana Gulf Coast during the day of the event. This low pressure system helped to feed moisture into the region from the south. Initially, the lower levels of the atmosphere were very dry, but lift provided by the storm system helped to moisten and cool the lower levels of the atmosphere such a combination of freezing rain, sleet and snow were the result across all of South and Southwest Arkansas. The transition from freezing rain and sleet to all snow was quick during the morning of January 9th across the region. The storm system exited the region late on January 9th but not before dumping some impressive freezing rain, sleet and snowfall totals across the southern half of the state. Generally, one quarter to one half inch of freezing rain and sleet was reported initially across portions of Southwest and South Central Arkansas with the snow being the predominant precipitation type during the afternoon and evening of January 9th. Following are some snowfall totals for January 9th across South and Southwest Arkansas: 8 inches in Ashdown, 7 inches in Dierks and Nashville, 6 inches in Hope, 6 miles north of Lewisville, and Texarkana, 5 inches in Dequeen and Tolette, 4 inches in Lewisville, 2 inches in Magnolia and 1 inch in El Dorado. There were numerous reports of traffic accidents across the southern half of the state including isolated power outages as well.

A significant winter storm affected all of the four state region which began in the pre-dawn hours thursday, February 11th. Arctic High pressure had built into the region during the early portion of the week ahead of a potent upper level disturbance which moved Across the southwestern states tapping a large plume of subtropical|moisture. As the upper disturbance moved closer to our region, the moisture was lifted up and over the cold artic air already in place. Light snow began to fall across areas west of Interstate 49 before sunrise Thursday and the intensities increased throughout the day mainly north of a Jacksonville, Texas, to Natchitoches, Louisiana|line. As the upper disturbance moved closer, snowfall rates increased to as much as 1 to 2 inches per hour in some locations during the evening hours on Thursday, lasting into the early morning hours Friday. The rain which had been falling across|portions of deep east Texas Thursday eventually changed over to all snow during the early morning hours Friday. When the storm ended early Friday, much of the area had received 4 to as much as 9 inches of heavy wet snow. Numerous schools and businesses were closed and many roads were closed due to snow and slush covering|them. Also, due to the weight of the snow, numerous trees were downed on powerlines causing power outages to nearly 100 thousand people across the region.|This storm ranks 7th all time in total snowfall, which was 5.4 Inches, for Shreveport since records began in 1871, and the most snow the metropolitan area has seen since December 16th, 1983, when 5.4 inches of snow was recorded.

Widespread showers and thunderstorms developed along and ahead of a strong cold front as a powerful upper level storm system plowed into the southern plains during the afternoon hours of October 29th. Strong shear was in place across the region such that several tornadic thunderstorms developed...producing widespread wind damage across portions of northeast Texas, southwest Arkansas as well as northern Louisiana. These storms trained across the same general area such that flooding was widespread. Flooding was severe across northwest Louisiana where flooding was reported in many homes and businesses. Area bayous, creeks, rivers and lakes were already at high levels from the excessive heavy rainfall that fell earlier in the month. Thus, some lakes and bayous approached and succeeded their all time record stage levels.

An inverted trough extended from the surface low pressure system south of Wichita Falls, Texas and reached to the northeast through southeast Oklahoma and central Arkansas while a nearly stationary frontal boundary extended from west Texas through the surface low over northwest Texas and into northeast Oklahoma and north Arkansas. Storms developed out ahead of the activity up north into southwest Arkansas and the band between the trough of low pressure and the stationary boundary pushed south. The storms produced strong wind which downed trees and power lines.

A very tight pressure gradient developed behind a strong cold front across much of the region in the wake of a departing upper trough of low pressure. Southerly winds of 15 to 25 mph were observed out ahead of the cold front the morning of the 29th, but quickly veered west northwest areawide by afternoon in wake of the frontal passage. This resulted in sustained wind speeds increasing to 25 to 35 mph, with gusts to 50 to 55 mph during the mid and late afternoon, especially over southeast Oklahoma, extreme northeast Texas, southwest Arkansas, and north Louisiana. Widespread reports of downed trees and power lines were received across the region, with at least 31000 residents without power during the late afternoon and evening of the 29th.