Storm chaser Mike Scantlin reported live from Little Rock, Arkansas, on the evening of Jan. 9, as interstate heavy snow begins fall.
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00:00Storm chaser Mike Scantlin is in Little Rock, Arkansas, an area that's already on alert for this round of wintry weather.
00:06Good evening, Mike. What's the latest there?
00:08Yes, good evening. It's, I mean, ever since, you know, I stopped in this spot to watch people kind of spin out going up this bridge here.
00:20I'm on a side street here. This is Woodrow, and this is Interstate 630.
00:23I'm a couple miles west of downtown Little Rock, and I saw some people spinning their tires trying to get up the sill here.
00:28So I pulled over to get a couple shots of that, and just in the 20 minutes that we've been here, the highway has deteriorated significantly here.
00:36I'm on the entrance ramp here to 630, and it's slow going.
00:41I mean, whenever I got here, we were still moving at highway speeds, and just in the last 20 minutes or so, it has gone significantly downhill.
00:48And we've kind of reached that point where every winter storm, you think, maybe it's not going to be that bad.
00:54Oh, this isn't that bad. Oh, here we go.
00:57And then it's downhill, and we are reaching that point right now here in Little Rock.
01:01If you're in central Arkansas or in the areas near central and western Arkansas where this storm is going, don't chance it.
01:08Do not chance it. Roads are deteriorating rapidly. It's going to be a long night for some of these people.
01:13You don't want to get stuck out here. It's just, it's not worth it. Don't do it.
01:19Yeah, Mike, and you know, we're watching this situation closely, just how fast that snow did basically encroach on Little Rock.
01:29And now it's been steady for now a few, an hour or so. It's cooling that surface.
01:34Is there anything that you are seeing out there right now, though, Mike, that is a little dangerous, at least on the ground right now where you are?
01:44Because I do see some traffic behind you.
01:50So just off to this side of the camera, I'm watching people come up this bridge and then try to make this left turn onto the interstate.
01:57And even four wheel drive vehicles are just spinning their tires.
02:00I've got a couple of cars here that are going to not be able to make it up to this ramp.
02:04Just just because in the last 20 minutes ago, we've gone from slushy, nasty roads to an inch of snow on top of the slush.
02:12So, you know, it went from sloppy to just snow.
02:17It's slick. Don't try it.
02:20You know, the spot that I'm standing and got my footprints in it and we've gotten an inch of snow here just in the last 20 minutes.
02:26So it's downhill. It's here. Get ready for it.
02:35From what we're talking about now, it seems like maybe people didn't really prepare.
02:38Earlier, we were talking about how much people were going to the stores and preparing.
02:43Thank you for that update.
02:45Let's now take another live look at Arkansas here, where, I mean, you can see this is the same thing that Mike was talking about.
02:53We're seeing the road conditions deteriorate.
02:56Looks like cars on this section of the highway are moving OK.
03:00But just like Mike was saying, if you are in this area, do not head out and about.
03:04Do not risk it. Exactly.
03:07Heed those war words because it's a mess.
03:11And even that we're seeing travel still, you can tell that it's slowing down, but also that that snow is building up.
03:18And this storm has a history. I mean, look at how much snow we've seen.
03:23Top snow reports so far just through Thursday.
03:26Bushland, Texas. Now, a lot of this is across western Texas, but still upwards to almost 10 inches of snow.
03:33Sims at eight inches, even Amarillo at seven and a half.
03:37So we are anticipating problems here, at least ongoing, especially for areas further east.
03:43Now, I bring up this AccuWeather Minutecast because it is a great tool.
03:46It will get you through the storms. Let's put it on an area like Dallas.
03:50And you'll see when that heaviest rain is going to start to change over to a wintry mix and how long it's going to last.
03:59You can even see, you know, minute by minute what's going to happen here in the Dallas Metroplex.
04:06And unfortunately, you're starting to see that wintry mix.
04:08And that's going to start that accumulation with that sleet that we've been monitoring here into the south central states as well.
04:15We have all of those winter warnings in effect.