So far this Fall has been warm and quiet. Temperatures have felt more like summer than Fall and we have seen very little precipitation. This quiet stretch is quickly coming to an end and we are about to experience “weather whiplash”!

The first impact we will see is consistent and heavy rainfall this weekend. The cold front that will eventually bring us winter-like temperatures is going to stall over Arkansas. This will bring widespread downpours and thunderstorms to Central Arkansas for nearly 3 days straight. Parts of Arkansas will see over 3″ of rain!

This heavy rainfall is great news for our drought. A large part of central Arkansas is under extreme drought and this heavy rainfall should put a good dent in helping us get out of drought.

We will also be impacted by a huge drop in temperatures. The big drop in temperatures coupled with the precipitation will lead to snow within 200 miles of Arkansas! We won’t see any snow, but higher elevations in northern Arkansas could see a few sleet pellets Monday morning.

Temperatures will drop fast. We will go from afternoon temperatures near 70° on Saturday and Sunday to high temperatures in the 40s on Monday. Sunshine will return on Tuesday and Wednesday, but temperatures will remain cold. This is far below average, we are supposed to see high temperatures in the upper 60s this time of year.

These are the afternoon high temperatures. The morning temperatures will be far colder. Most of Arkansas will see a frost or freeze Tuesday morning and the rest of the state will drop near or below freezing on Wednesday morning.

This will be central Arkansas’ first frost/freeze of the season. So how does it compare to when we see our average first frost?

In Little Rock, it will be about a week earlier than normal, but for most of Arkansas, it is pretty close to normal.

It looks like the winter-like temperatures won’t last long. Temperatures will warm back into the mid to upper 60s by Friday, November 3rd.