Storm chaser Mike Scantlin reports from Little Rock, Arkansas, where snow and ice have disrupted travel in the city in the morning of Jan. 10. Road crews have been hard at work clearing highways.
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00:00Last time we spoke to you, Mike, you said you would be moving around to see what things are looking like across the city. What have you seen?
00:09Yes, good morning. The sun is coming up and it's just a beautiful winterscape here. We're probably pushing six or seven inches here.
00:19I'm on the west side of town here on Markham Street near University Boulevard and not a ton of problems.
00:25Most of the highways and the main roads are passable if you have the proper equipment.
00:30Any struggling I have seen have been in vehicles that are two-wheel drive.
00:34This front-wheel drive sedan behind me here probably feels like you've got pretty good traction because you have the weight of the engine over those front wheels.
00:42But any turning or stopping, anytime you need to make any type of maneuver, you're going to lose traction.
00:48And once you lose it, you're buried.
00:49I mean, we've got enough snow here that if you lose traction, you're going to get buried.
00:52You're not going to get out until someone in an orange jacket and a floppy eared hat comes along to push you out.
00:59So a lot of people stopping to help. I haven't seen it. I've seen one car here that's stuck and abandoned about a mile west of me.
01:05As far as seeing people stuck, a lot of people getting stuck and then getting pushed out and then having no trouble.
01:12But, you know, the entrance ramps, you see that?
01:16Four-wheel drive Jeep guy stops to help push out the front-wheel drive sedan.
01:20I was going to go push him out once we finished, but looks like he's on the road and he's good to go.
01:24You know, slow and steady wins the race here.
01:27But if you're in a vehicle that's not really suited for this, you're going to have issues.
01:31And you've been out there again throughout town and throughout the morning.
01:35How has it been? Have you seen a lot of plows, road clues really working to clean this up?
01:40I know you're not. There's probably a difference between some of those main roads that are maintained by Arkansas versus some of the side roads.
01:50You know, the interstates are being plowed constantly.
01:54The city streets and some of the state highways, I haven't seen any of those plows in the city or county areas.
02:02But the interstates, they're on a constant loop back and forth, keeping it plowed.
02:06And the snow is still coming down heavily enough that they're working uphill right now just to keep it clear.
02:11But the side streets look like they have been plowed. We've got two lanes in both directions.
02:15So just because I haven't seen it doesn't mean that they're not out and about.
02:18I've definitely spent more time on the highways.
02:20But, you know, mostly clear, you're still going to have issues if you're not suited for it.
02:26Mike Scanlon reporting live for us in Little Rock, Arkansas.
02:29It's the importance of a storm chaser.
02:31I mean, you show it every storm you're covering, whether it's tropical weather, whether it's tornadoes, and now winter weather.
02:35I mean, you're there to report of what it looks like.
02:37But you're actually helping the people of Little Rock and, you know, offering to push their vehicles.
02:41Just such important work you do.
02:43We appreciate you being out there for us this morning, and we'll check back in.