We’ve all heard the jokes. “Don’t like the weather in Arkansas? Wait five minutes.” Every summer we find our Facebook feeds full of memes about hobbits throwing rings into our yards. Every spring it’s a hand coming up from beneath flood waters. Truth be told, lots of states are sharing the same memes and making the same jokes. The difference is, in Arkansas all those things are actually true. Just last week I saw a map of the Natural State that had half the state freezing while the other half was advised to look out for tornadoes. Below you’ll find nine examples of times Arkansas weather was just way too weird.
- When it snowed in May.
Flickr/uacescomm Since record keeping began in 1819, no snow was ever recorded in May in the Natural State for nearly two hundred years. In May of 2013 that all changed when snow fell on northwest Arkansas. It wasn’t just a light dusting, either. That late spring snowfall totaled five inches in the town of Decatur.
The picture above was taken on May 3.
- When western Arkansas needed to look out for snow and bitter cold while eastern Arkansas had to look out for tornadoes.
Flickr/Brian Kemp Yeah, that was just a few days ago.
- Last week, when the temperature plunged by more than forty degrees in one day in some parts of the state.
Flickr/Jack Gray The high temperature on December 17th in Fayetteville was 57 degrees. It fell to 13 degrees on the same day.
- When it was 88 degrees on Halloween.
Flickr/Dave Thomas That’s right, the temperature in Fort Smith, Arkansas reached 88 degrees on October 31st this year, but it was hot all over the rest of the state too. The perfect year for those thin fairy costumes and luau themes.
- The year we had a crazy warm Christmas.
Flickr/Dave Thomas In 2015, the temperature in El Dorado the day after Christmas was 80 degrees. That year we didn’t even care about a white Christmas. We just wanted a Christmas where we didn’t have to run the air conditioner.
- In 2015, when we had drought, rain, drought, rain, drought, rain, drought . . .
Flickr/Tonya Stinson You remember that. There was a lot of flooding in the late spring.
- When we skip right over entire seasons.
Flickr/Masakazu Matsumoto This year we skipped autumn. We went from 70 degree days to lows of below freezing in the course of few days.
- When it was colder here than on Mars.
Flickr/AR Nature Gal The temperature on Mars the day this article was written was -2 degrees. On February 13, 1905, it was -29 degrees in Gravette, Arkansas.
- When you could have fried an egg on the sidewalk in Subiaco.
Flickr/Lori Greig During the hottest summer on record, on August 10th of 1936, the temperature in Subiaco reached 117 degrees. It might take awhile and you’d have to set some foil down, but you could have cooked a right nice breakfast.
To see a list of the strangest things that have ever happened in the Natural State, click here. For more oddities that make Arkansas the weirdest state, click here. If you’re looking for some weird places to go, try this or these.
Flickr/uacescomm
Since record keeping began in 1819, no snow was ever recorded in May in the Natural State for nearly two hundred years. In May of 2013 that all changed when snow fell on northwest Arkansas. It wasn’t just a light dusting, either. That late spring snowfall totaled five inches in the town of Decatur.
The picture above was taken on May 3.
Flickr/Brian Kemp
Yeah, that was just a few days ago.
Flickr/Jack Gray
The high temperature on December 17th in Fayetteville was 57 degrees. It fell to 13 degrees on the same day.
Flickr/Dave Thomas
That’s right, the temperature in Fort Smith, Arkansas reached 88 degrees on October 31st this year, but it was hot all over the rest of the state too. The perfect year for those thin fairy costumes and luau themes.
In 2015, the temperature in El Dorado the day after Christmas was 80 degrees. That year we didn’t even care about a white Christmas. We just wanted a Christmas where we didn’t have to run the air conditioner.
Flickr/Tonya Stinson
You remember that. There was a lot of flooding in the late spring.
Flickr/Masakazu Matsumoto
This year we skipped autumn. We went from 70 degree days to lows of below freezing in the course of few days.
Flickr/AR Nature Gal
The temperature on Mars the day this article was written was -2 degrees. On February 13, 1905, it was -29 degrees in Gravette, Arkansas.
Flickr/Lori Greig
During the hottest summer on record, on August 10th of 1936, the temperature in Subiaco reached 117 degrees. It might take awhile and you’d have to set some foil down, but you could have cooked a right nice breakfast.
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