Ice remains, but road conditions improving

Although most of Blytheville and much of the surrounding area is still blanketed with a thick sheet of ice, the city hasn't experienced any major incidents in relation to the frosty conditions thus far.

Blytheville Police Chief Ross Thompson said he hasn't seen any majors issues so far during this bout of winter weather, especially in terms of power outages or vehicle accidents. But Thompson still urges motorists to be cautious when driving.

"The weather really hasn't created any major incidents so far. Power has stayed on and there haven't been any major accidents," Thompson said. "The roads really haven't been a problem today. The side roads are still slick, but the primary roads have been pretty clear.

They're calling for some more precipitation, but I think that may just be a light dusting if we see anything at all. We're not really expecting any trouble; still, people do need to be careful of black ice when they're driving. I think these conditions are just about right for black ice to sneak up on people."

Mayor James Sanders said the city has had crews out working to keep the streets clear as things begin to melt off, adding workers have had the chance to put the city's recently purchased snow plow to use.

"We still have the plow out -- been out since early this morning and we're running the blade," he said. "We're just waiting to see what's going to happen. Right now, we're taking advantage and trying to get things clear while we can before we get hit again, if we get hit again."

Local schools have seen the biggest impact from the icy roads, having had to repeatedly cancel school this week.

Blytheville Superintendent Richard Atwill said he and the administrative staff are responsible for deciding whether to have school or not -- a decision they don't take lightly.

Atwill consistently reiterates that safety is the most important factor in the district making its decision. With only five days built into the schedule for inclement weather, Atwill said students are missing valuable instruction time, which will have to be made up. In years past, the district has used scheduled out days such as Presidents Day, Good Friday, spring break and professional development days, and has even tacked days onto the end of the school year when they needed to.

"We hope the side roads clear a lot today; however, with temperatures falling, it's not looking promising for the rest of the week," Atwill said. "The difficult part of it all is that those are highly important instructional days lost because the state testing dates are immoveable. We already get a month and a half shorter instructional time because of testing dates. Snow days may be fun for a little while, but they keep the children from important learning."

cpinkard@blythevillecourier.com