SNOWPLOSION 2011

What an awesome day yesterday was. After a fun night on the Arkansas Weather Blog Tuesday night, I was pumped for a day of snow chasing with Erich Hopkins (ChaserErich). We knew that we could drive around the LR metro and stream live video of the impending snowstorm, but there would be plenty of others doing that and we were searching for something "extreme". After all, that's what we do.

Our plan was to head southwest toward Rich Mountain (the 2nd highest peak in Arkansas) hoping for some crazy snowfall amounts. Due to the cold temperatures expected along with some serious snow expected we made sure we had plenty of winter weather gear just in case. I woke up around 4 Wednesday morning and took an early glance at the models and conditions. I was surprised to see the large snowfall totals piling up in NW Arkansas. Radar was lit up in the NW but was also looking good in Eastern Oklahoma. Erich picked me up around 4:45 and we loaded up. Heading south towards Little Rock I noticed that snowfall seemed to be picking up to the north and Eastern Oklahoma was indicating a little less than I expected.

We continued SW on I-30 turning west at the Hot Springs exit where is was just starting to snow. 10 miles west it was snowing hard and the road was turning white. Feeling pretty good we continued on. I did my morning weather update on the BUZZ. Just before Hot Springs I could see on radar that the snow was really picking up further to the north and the snowfall in Eastern Oklahoma looked like it was really falling apart. I called Todd for some information and looked at the models on my laptop. NWS Tulsa had made mention of an expected area of very heavy snow forming in Southern Oklahoma heading to the east and northeast. We knew we had to go north if we were going to pick up the "extreme" snow.

We made a turn north at Mt. Ida and headed to Mt. Magazine State Park. If we couldn't get to Rich Mountain we might as well go to the highest spot in Arkansas. I wanted to take a picture of the Arkansas Weather Blog flag (which is really a t-shirt) next to the sign that stated we were at the top of Arkansas during a snowstorm.  Heading north we were hearing about the "extreme" snow totals coming out of the NW. Our plan was to run up the mountain, snap the picture, then head northwest towards Fayetteville. That plan was quickly squashed as we found out that all highways leading north from I-40 were closed due to snowfall.

The snow between Mt. Ida and Havana had picked up considerably and we were really happy with what we were seeing. At that time, we saw the special mesoscale discussion about  heavy snow of more than one inch per hour expected in the LR area starting about noon. We knew we would miss that but knew from looking at the radar that some of that heavy snow would be heading for Mt. Magazine. We stopped at Rick's One Stop in Havana for a quick bathroom break and a snack. Rick told us we would need chains to make it to the top so we pulled into a car wash to put chains on Erich's truck. He also told us that if we left the lodge we could hike about 500 yards straight up the mountain and we would reach our goal.

Rick's One Stop in Havana Arkansas. They stayed open all day.

The chains are a little short.

We found out the chains would not fit but we decided to attempt it anyway. By now it was snowing very hard and we decided to stop and take a snow measurement using the Yakstick that we had brought with us. The Yakstick is the most accurate snow measuring device known to man. By our measurement the area had 6 inches of accumulation.

The road to Mt. Magazine.

The "Yakstick"

The snow was coming down, we were slipping and sliding, turn after turn, higher and higher, in snowy conditions that would make most people turn back. We were so proud when we saw the lodge at the top. but we made it to the top of the mountain, with no chains. We were feeling pretty good about ourselves. The credit goes to Erich for his determination and excellent driving skills (not to mention the 5 Hour Energy).

We went inside the lodge to look around and warm up. We asked how to get to the top and the two girls behind the counter told us to go back to cabin 5, park, and then follow the trail. There was a little debate about whether or not we could stop on the side of the road. Our truck would be in the way if the park dept decided to plow the road so they told us to turn into cabin 5 and park on the side.

Waterfall just outside the lodge entrance

Getting directions from the friendly staff

We loaded up and headed towards cabin 5. We found the cabin and pulled into the driveway. BIG MISTAKE as we slid, and slid, getting closer and closer to the cabin, finally stopping about  1/2" from the railing. We were streaming live so some of you may have seen that. Erich tried to back up and at that point we knew we were stuck. We were assessing the situation (and in the back of our minds thinking about what we were going to tell our wives) when a SUV pulled up on the main road and offered to tow us out. The pulled down the driveway and got stuck too. Erich said he had a couple of shovels in the truck but we only found one. He left one at the car wash in Havana so we took turns digging the SUV out and finally manged to get them back to the road. We asked them to let the lodge know we "might" need some help.

Assessing the stuck truck.

Our help got stuck!

                                                      Video of us sliding down the driveway


I started to shovel and was thinking we might have to spend the night up here. Good thing the winter rates were in affect. Erich shoveled some and then we just took turns as we had to do the whole driveway. The guy that had offered to help us and got stuck (I believe his name was Brian) came back with a snow shovel and we progressed down the driveway to the truck. Erich took off in reverse and made it halfway up, so we shoveled some more and he eventually made it back to the road. Thank goodness! We did learn that Brian was a weather geek just like us.

A park ranger came by we told him what he what we were going to do and he suggested we park at the lodge, so Erich drove back to the lodge and parked and then we took off on the trail. All this time it continued to snow. We took a quick measurement using the Yakstick and measure just below 9".

8.75 inches at the lodge.

This was supposed to be a quick 1/2 mile hike but either we lost the trail or it was a little longer because I think we walked completely around the mountain for a distance of 1 1/2 miles.

The trail to the top.

Erich Hopkins. So extreme he didn't need gloves.

WeatherNinja on the trail

Pretty snow along the trail

7 is Weather and the Arkansas Weather Blog is Extreme Weather

We finally made it though and it was worth it.


We streamed live video back to the blog from the top of the mountain as the snow continued to fall. We took our picture and then headed down the trail back to the lodge, only this time Erich suggested we head due east (he had a compass on his phone). We did and cut our trip down to about 1/8 of a mile. At the top we used the Yakstick one last time and measured 10" of snow.

The official flag of the Arkansas Weather Blog

Michael Hook aka The WeatherNinja

Erich Hopkins aka ChaserErich

The Yakstick says 10"

We planted the flag, took the picture, and headed home.   I did manage to get a picture from the top of the mountain as the clouds lifted just enough to see the valley below.

View from the top of Mt. Magazine

We went to Russellville hoping for some Whataburger or CJ's but we were out of luck as they were closed. We did see the Channel 7 truck next to I-40 and stopped for a chat with Roger Susanin who was covering the storm from that location.

Since I knew we where a couple of fast food places were on the other side of Russellville we headed east and made it just in time for some Wendys. They were about to close because of the weather but made our order. What normally takes about an hour to get back to LR took 2.5 since the interstate was completely covered with snow and ice. We saw numerous trucks in the median and were commenting on those cars and trucks that passed us at a high rate of speed that we would see them down the road. I one case that was true as a Toyota FJ5 passed us and the spun off the side near Morrilton. We stopped to see if they needed help but they said they were ok. It was still snowing on our trip down I-40 and Erich dropped me off at about 8:00pm.

This was our route for SNOWPLOSION 2011

All in all it was a fun day for us. We got our picture, everyone got their snow all is good in Arkansas.
I'm going to play in the snow today and do some sledding with my daughter. Until the next extreme weather event...enjoy the weather cause it'll change before you know it.

Michael