LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – On November 18, 1880, the state of Arkansas saw some of the coldest air of the season with some locations reporting air colder than 0 degrees.
After a heavy snow the day before, clear skies allowed for ultimate cooling with Arctic air flowing in from the north. As a result, temperatures plummeted through the early morning hours.
The coldest temperature officially recorded was -6 degrees at Mount Ida in Montgomery County. At 2 p.m, Mount Ida “warmed” up to 28 degrees. By 10 p.m, the temperature had fallen to 10 degrees.
-6 degrees in Mount Ida remains the coldest November temperature recorded in the state of Arkansas since record-keeping began.
Credit: National Weather Service, Little Rock.
Little Rock saw a low of 10 degrees on the morning of the 18th.
Temperatures as low as -10 degrees were reported in Russellville’s newspaper. Other portions of west and northwest Arkansas claim to have seen temperatures as low as -17 degrees.
The cold snap, however, didn’t last for long. Temperatures moderated the next day.