The facts below are taken from http://www.keeparkansasbeautiful.com/litter_prevention/

Facts about Littering


Arkansas has 100,000 acres of public roadside along its 16,367-mile state highway system, 9,700 miles of streams, and 600,000 acres of lakes … and, unfortunately, litter can be found along all of them!

It costs Arkansas more than $2 million annually to clean up along the highways, and $5 million in total cleanup costs. And even though littering is illegal in Arkansas - punishable by a fine and community service - litter continues to be a problem.

Common Forms of Litter in Arkansas:
Cigarette Filters
Plastic Foam
Food Wrappers and Containers
Paper
Glass
Plastic
Aluminum

Littering Effects - Litter Impacts Economic Development

Litter isn't just an environmental issue. It's also an economic development issue. When prospective businesses tour a community, they're looking for a dynamic, growing community where their businesses can grow. When communities have a lot of litter, it simply shows that the people living there don't care about their town's future. If they don't, new businesses won't, either.
This can hurt the economic development of a community. The absence of litter in a community reflects the pride that it shows and really does make a difference. Find out more about littering effects and how you can help clean up your community.

Facts About Littering - How Litter Happens

It Gets Blown
Litter can blow out of a truck bed without the driver knowing.
Avoid putting anything in a truck bed that might blow out on the road.
Cover all loads to avoid items blowing out.

It Gets Thrown
Litter shouldn't be thrown from a vehicle.
Avoid throwing litter out of car windows by keeping a litterbag in the car at all times. Request your free litterbag today!

It Gets Dumped
It is illegal to continue dumping your trash at the site where a dumpster once was.
These illegal dumping sites can poison groundwater and kill local wildlife.
Don't create illegal dumping sites.

Reducing Litter

Reducing litter may be easier than you think! Here are three easy ways to reduce the amount of litter in your community:

Don't Litter! It's illegal.
Report Littering.
Pick up Litter.

Additional Resources
Orang-U-Tongs
EZ Reacher

Looking for facts about recycling? Find out how Arkansas recycling can improve the success of the communities and businesses throughout the Natural State. Start recycling in Arkansas today!

Today is Arbor Day, and with all of the talk about Global Warming and the overall destruction of the environment, I wanted to share some facts with you that will hopefully make you understand the importance of trees.

My goal is to help people realize that they really can make a difference by just simply changing some of their daily habits!

Trees make up an urban forest which works to:

1. Help reduce pollution in our air and water
2. Conserve utility costs and cool city streets
3. Reduce crime
4. Reduce asthma and improve our overall health and quality of life
5. Increase residential and commercial property values

Here are some very interesting statistics...

Around 500 full sized trees are needed to absorb the carbon dioxide produced by a typical car driven 20,000 miles per year.

One large tree can provide a day's worth of oxygen for up to 4 people.

One large tree can lift up to 100 gallons of water out of the ground and discharge it into the air in one day.

Researchers estimate that an urban tree can save 5 to 10 times more overall carbon dioxide than a rural tree.

If you have the opportunity, please plant a tree and help create a natural habitat in your own yard. Whether you live in the country, or the city, we can all do our part to help the environment.

The severe weather is winding down. Strong storms continue to move across Newton, Pope, and Yell counties. These storms have the capability of producing strong gusty winds to 50 mph along with small hail.

As the sun goes down, these storms will quickly fall apart. A cold front will continue to sweep across eastern Oklahoma through 6 p.m. A few storms will remain possible along and north of I-40. through 7 p.m. No more severe weather is anticipated.

Severe thunderstorm warnings have been issued for Craig and Nowata counties which border our north western area. Good breaks of sunshine have been developing off to the west and with a cold front still back near Tulsa; thunderstorms are likely through the late afternoon and into the early evening. A line of thunderstorms appears to be developing north to south, stretching through Muskogee and McAlester. We are watching this activity closely. The main threat with today's afternoon thunderstorms will be hail and gusty winds, though an isolated tornado can't be ruled out.

We'll be updating the blog throughout the afternoon and making cut-ins on-air as deemed necessary. Keep it tuned to 40/29... we've got you covered on-air and on the web!

Northern counties; Delaware, Cherokee, and Adair in OK, along with Washington, Benton, Carroll, and Madison in AR, are now breaking out in sunshine. Cumulus clouds are beginning to pop as well. With the cold front still lagging back to our west the potential for thunderstorms, some of which may produce large hail, still exists. The wet bulb zero temperature is roughly at 8000 to 8500 feet. This is low and will certainly support large hail growth.

Individual thunderstorms are starting to pop between I-35 and I-44 in northern OK. The atmosphere has been capped this morning and into the early afternoon, though now this is starting to break. RUC analysis has a bull’s eye of 500-1000 J/kg of CAPE (Convective Available Potential Energy) over NW AR and NE OK. We are watching this area closely as a hot spot for thunderstorm development. The best window for storm development, coinciding well with sun breaks and peak heating. is now through the late afternoon as the cold front finally pushes through.

ARKANSAS

Mena 1.50"
Booneville 1.36”
Fort Smith 1.12”
Siloam Springs 0.97”
Fayetteville .93”
Springdale 0.75”
Bentonville 0.60”


OKLAHOMA

Talihina 2.26”
Poteau 2.21”
McAlester 1.86”
Westville 1.14”
Wilburton 1.16”
Cookson 1.09”
Sallisaw 0.91”


The heaviest thunderstorm activity right now is along a line which stretches from southeastern OK through Mena, Clarksville, and Harrison, AR. There have been severe thunderstorm warnings in association with this band, prompted by gusty winds along the leading edge. Heavy to moderate rain continues to fall across the River Valley as well as NW AR. We were down about two inches of rain as compared to monthly averages for April. With this event and additional rain tomorrow we may end up close to, or slightly above average for the month.

Showers and storms continue to move across portions of western Arkansas. Several severe storms were reported throughout Franklin, Johnson, Logan, Scott, and Polk counties. Heavy flooding rainfall may be an issue with some locations seeing localized street flooding. Never cross a street that is covered with water.

The severe threat continues to wind down across our viewing area. Lingering showers and some embedded storms will be possible through 9 p.m.

Strong to severe storms continue to push throughout eastern Oklahoma this evening. Look for those storms to contain small hail and gusty winds from 40 to 60 mph. There's still a tornado watch until 11:00 p.m.; however, the tornado threat is weakening as storms merge together in a general line.

The line of storms will move across the Oklahoma/Arkansas state line after 6 p.m. Rainfall could amount between .25" to 1.00" across the viewing area. Stay away from windows as the storms move over your town.

An intense line of thunderstorms is racing across OK, and out ahead of the line there have been individual supercells. Numerous severe thunderstorm warnings along with tornado warnings have been issued in association with the line. Our entire area is under tornado watch, which carries through 10:00 PM this evening. The threat of damaging winds, large destructive hail as well as tornadoes will accompany this system as it continues moving towards the east. Individual storms will be traveling to the northeast at speeds of up to 40-50mph. The parent Low is centered over southeastern CO, as highlighted in radar imagery.

We are tracking individual cells in our western periphery and it is likely that over the next several hours we will have warnings, both tornado and thunderstorm, issued for some of our counties. We will be making all necessary cut-ins as deemed necessary. Right now the heaviest activity stretches from Bartlesville southward through McCalester and points south westward. Please have a severe weather plan ready.

Keep it tuned to 40/29… we’ve got you covered on-air and on the web.

The dryline has become very active this afternoon, and storms are starting to fire in the moisture rich atmosphere ahead of the main line. Most of the storms are lined up along I-35 through OKC.

Expect showers and storms to intensify by 5 p.m. across eastern Oklahoma. Storms will move closer to western Arkansas by 7 p.m. tonight. Large hail and damaging winds remain the primary threats; however, there will be a strong tornado potential across SE OK tonight. EHI values have increased to 3.0, indicating strong low level wind shear.

We'll continue to update you throughout the afternoon.

The dryline has now pushed into western OK, indicated by satellite imagery highlighting initial convection and thunderstorm development, along with surface dewpoint contours showing a bowing line of dry air pushing into the Clinton and Cordell area. A line of severe thunderstorms now stretches from Watonga and Lawton, OK through the Wichita Falls and Abilene area of TX. These storms mark the western periphery of Tornado Watch box #173, which encompasses our western area and expires at 8:00 PM.

We are still anticipating our western area to become active this early afternoon, with south and western counties having the threat of large hail, damaging winds and a few isolated tornadoes. This threat will be moving eastward throughout the day and as early as 6:00PM isolated severe thunderstorms along with line segments of severe storms will likely stretch through Jay, Tahlequah and Muskogee, OK to points southwestward. Benton, Washington, Crawford, Sebastian, Scott, Polk, Leflore and McCurtain counties will likely see the greatest threat of severe thunderstorms after 6:00 PM. Expect activity to be the most intense through the Midnight hour.

Be safe and be smart, which means being prepared! Have a severe weather plan ready. We are continuing to monitor developments. Keep it tuned to 40/29… we’ve got you covered on-air and on the web!

The entire eastern Oklahoma and western Arkansas area remains under a moderate risk for severe weather for Tuesday evening. Our thinking remains the same. We'll have to wait for a strong 100+ knt jetstreak to move over the central plains by Tuesday afternoon in order for storms to fire. Storm initiation will likely occur along the dryline after 3 p.m. These storms will rapidly develop and move NE over 50 mph. We'll likely see storms after 5 p.m. across our area.

Dewpoint temperature, or the measure of low level moisture, will remain in the 60's throughout the warm sector on Tuesday. The air mass will be capable of supporting severe storms, so all of the necessary ingredients per our computer models will come together. Sunshine will be in question tomorrow, but it wouldn't surprise me to see peeks of sun throughout the day. Increased sunshine will only create more of a volatile and unstable atmosphere.

Make sure you have a severe weather plan in place. Please check back during the day on Tuesday for more blog updates..............

The top half of the week will be quite active as a powerful storm system passes through our area. We’ve had a southerly wind for several days, due to an area of High pressure parked to our east. The wind has been blowing over the Gulf of Mexico; subsequently, lots of moisture has now been transported into our area. In fact, today actually felt a little humid! This moisture is a precursor and important ingredient to a set-up for thunderstorms.

The storm system is pulling in a relatively cold air mass aloft and this will make the atmosphere unstable. Daytime heating coupled with a frontal boundary will provide the lift to fire off convection and due to the turning of the windfield with height; it is likely that rotating supercells will develop. Our threat will mainly be for large hail and gusty winds though there is chance of tornados too. The storm system will likely push through early on Wednesday and there afterwards, we should get break for a few days. We’re monitoring developments closely… keep it tuned to 40/29 on-air and on the web, we’ll keep you advised!

We ended up eight degrees above monthly averages for the month of March, temperature-wise in both Fayetteville and Fort Smith. Conversely, April has been cool so far with temps running about 6 to 8 degrees below average, though over the past few days we have been at average our slightly above.

Rainfall-wise, we’ll need a few more decent events to bring us up to par, though we’re not terribly dry right now. By next week, a trough which is now digging out in the Pacific south of the Aleutians is slated to track across the mid-south and central plains. This will likely bring both our next shot of significant rain and potential severe weather to the area.

The warm summer months are right around the corner, and you know that means more familiar terminology from your friendly 40/29 meteorologist. These definitions are straight from the National Weather Service criteria.

Isolated = Less than a 30% chance for storms to occur in a given a location.

Scattered = 30% to 50% chance for storms to occur in a given location.

Likely = Greater than a 60% chance that storms will occur in a given location.

We're continuing to watch scattered showers and a few embedded thunderstorms move out of central Oklahoma toward our area. No severe weather is anticipated, but some of the stronger cells may contain small pea size hail, especially as the cold core low moves overhead after sundown. We're still expecting between a .25" to 1.00" of rain across the viewing area. Heavier rainfall looks to move in after 10 p.m.

As the low departs to our east on Wednesday, we'll expect subsidence on the back side of the system to create afternoon sunshine. Look for highs in the mid to upper 60s and lower 70s. Warmer temperatures will return toward the end of the week! Enjoy the rain......

The system that brought better than an inch and a half of rain to a few lucky locations and a solid half inch to an inch plus in others on Friday has pushed off to the north east. Wrap around clouds and precipitation across NW AR and NE OK and some chilly air aloft kept temps today some 25 degrees below seasonal average highs! This will not be the case for Sunday, but we do have to contend with one more cold night as a few northern locations settle mighty close to the freezing mark by tomorrow morning.

We’ve been monitoring a clearing trend which has been slow but steady. Fort Smith and the River Valley saw late day breaks of sun give way to a mostly clear sky, though areas to the north still had the clouds to contend with. A few fast moving showers dropping into our area from Kansas may stick together long enough tonight to bring a little drizzle and or a flurry to northern locations overnight. But, tomorrow afternoon will be feeling a bit more spring-like with ample sunshine and much warmer temps.

The showers and storms that raced our way across central Oklahoma have finally hit the wall. The atmosphere across eastern Oklahoma has cooled and become stable.

Most of the strong thunderstorms have weakened, but some cells may produce small pea size hail. The heavy rain will transition after midnight to light rain and drizzle. Snow will be a factor if you're heading north along 71 to Kansas City tonight. Extreme northeastern Oklahoma may see some snow mixing with rain by Saturday morning, but no major accumulations are expected across our viewing area.

The Storm Prediction Center has extended a watch box to encompass many of our southern counties in AR. This latest watch is active through 2:00 AM. This includes Sebastian, Logan Scott and Polk counties. The northern boundary is very close to I-40. Many of our Oklahoma counties still remain under a severe thunderstorm watch too.

An intense line of storms has been racing across Texas and Oklahoma, where breaks of sunshine and very moisture rich air have fueled super cells. Although the motion of the upper level Low continues to be to the east, this line of storms may rotate through our southern area tonight. The main threat will be gusty winds and large hail, though an isolated tornado across extreme southern counties near the OK / TX border can’t be ruled out. Expect the heaviest precipitation to fall through the 10:00 PM to 3:00 AM window.

Good news, the tornado threat continues to remain south across Texas this afternoon. As we anticipated, the warm front has not moved very far north, keeping the real juicy air out of our reach. Shear and moisture convergence are very impressive this afternoon ahead of the dry line, and that's where the nasty weather is contained.

This evening more scattered showers and storms will some locally heavy rainfall will move north ahead of the upper level storm. Some of the stronger storms may contain small hail, but no major severe weather is anticipated. We'll have more updates to come!

Heavy rain showers with some imbedded pea size hail have pushed into the River Valley area. A cell, capable of producing nickel to quarter size hail is moving into SW Logan County. This storm looks to continue on a north easterly track and will likely pass near or through Booneville, Paris and Clarksville over the next hour.

As a leading wave of low pressure, cycling around the main area of Low pressure to our west, continues to push through over the next several hours, expect a transition to more of a heavy rain event with embedded lightning and thunder. Temperatures will stay cool today with the threat of severe weather holding to our south.

You could definitely feel the winds of change in the air on Wednesday. Winds gusted over 40 mph in many locations, downing trees in saturated soils, as a tight pressure gradient engulfed the area. That same system was also responsible for heavy snowfall across portions of the Midwest. Welcome to April! As we say goodbye to our last weather maker, we watch another one coming our way for Friday.

This next storm could turn out to be more of a rain maker than a severe weather maker across eastern Oklahoma and western Arkansas; however, we're keeping our eyes on SE OK and SW AR for a significant severe weather threat. Why will only our southern counties see the chance for significant storms? The answer lies in the position of the warm front.

Typically, a trough will start to lift as it moves east out of the southwest of the U.S., racing a surface low to the northeast. Our area tends to become warm sectored, and if enough instability exists, we'll rapidly develop severe weather. The Friday storm looks different. Instead of lifting, the trough is forecast to dig, creating a surface low that will ride east along the Red River. We're expecting the warm front to set up somewhere across SE OK and SW AR, which is pretty far south.

The warm front is a very interesting place to be during the spring. North of the front will typically experience embedded storms and heavy rainfall; however, along the boundary itself, extreme turning of the winds will occur, creating a favorable environment for tornadoes. Storms that form along the warm front will have the potential to rotate and produce tornadoes. Think of all the winds spiraling into the surface low. It will be a heavily sheared environment.

The key on Friday will be to locate the actual position of the front, and determine just how far north it will go. I have noticed the NAM likes to advect the front too far north, but my gut says the warm front will stay south of the River Valley. Temperatures across NW AR may only be in the 50s on Friday! We'll continue to update you on this developing storm system.

I have good news to report, even after this nasty cold snap, many of the damaged trees and plants should make a decent recovery. I talked with Donna at the Fort Smith Garden Center, and she says that we should see more growth when the weather turns warmer. Here are some important tips she says you should follow in order for your foliage to make a healthy comeback.

1. Don't prune or cut back the plants or trees. Allow the leaves or buds to fall off naturally. When the warm weather returns, they will likely bloom again.

2. Don't feed the plants with plant food or fertilizer. This will damage the plants. Allow them to naturally return.

So, if you were out and about pretty much anytime over the weekend, we don’t have to mention that it was cold! But, let’s quantify what cold meant the past two mornings.

Just below this post were the records in jeopardy over the weekend and like the title of this entry states, we tied two and left two in the dust!

Saturday’s Lows: TWO TIES

Fort Smith: 29F
Fayetteville: 24F

Sunday’s Lows: TWO RECORDS !

Fort Smith: 24F
Fayetteville: 17F

The week ahead is looking very spring like with several chances for rain. Tuesday into Wednesday is chance number one. This system does not look to bring in severe weather, though a system late in the week will be coming in with a hefty jet. This is chance number two and the ingredients may come together for a batch of strong thunderstorms. Our long range pattern is looking to become more active too, with perhaps another impressive system for next Monday / Tuesday.

Present Records:

Fort Smith, AR

April 7, 29F 1990
April 8, 33F 1971

Fayetteville, AR

April 7, 24F 1971
April 8, 27F 1956

We’re likely to bust all four of the above records over the next few days as cold air continues to flow southward. Tonight, there is a freeze warning that goes just about all of the way to the Gulf of Mexico! Sunday will likely be the lower of the next few mornings, with many locations dropping into the teens in NW AR and NE OK.

*March was about ten degrees above average for the month, so we shall see how we end up for the month of April.

Over the next several days a blocking pattern will develop with a Low over the Pacific, a ridge of High pressure just to our west, and an impressive Low over Hudson’s bay in Canada. This set-up as we’ve discussed on the weather blog before is known as an Omega Block; typically weather becomes somewhat stagnant within this feature and depending on position within, the same type of conditions can persist for days. With that being said, the Jet stream will be parked in place just to our west, keeping us in a cool northwesterly flow regime. Another boundary looks to pass through on Thursday, ushering in even colder air aloft. So, a period of seasonably cool weather is looking imminent.

So, just how cold might we get? Climatological averages for this week are around 71/45 High/Low in Fort Smith and 65/43 in Fayetteville. Over the next several days Fort Smith will be averaging highs in the mid and upper 50s with lows in the mid and lower 30s. Fayetteville’s highs may not break 50 for a few days and lows will likely be dipping below the freezing mark. These numbers are more indicative of early and mid February! Sensitive plants may need to be brought indoors for a few nights.

FYI: Frosts are possible in the River Valley through mid-April and in Fayetteville through mid-May.

We're watching a pretty stout cold front to our north which looks to bring a chance for some showers and storms on Tuesday, and some cooler changes to our weather. Temperatures this time of the year should be in the upper 60s and lower 70s, but over the past week, we've been enjoying above average highs; however, after this front passes through, we'll experience below average temperatures all the way into the Easter weekend.

Let's talk about storm chances for Tuesday. Look for a pretty substantial cap aloft to exist in our atmosphere from all of the warm air advection, with that being said, we'll need a lot of surface heating ahead of the front to lift the air mass. The best chance for this to occur will remain south of I-40. This area will have the greatest potential for maximized surface heating before the frontal passage. If the cap can be broken, look for CAPE values to exceed 2,000, which could result in large hail. Storms won't be sticking around though, so if you're lucky, you could see some brief heavy rain before the front clears your area. Rain chances from north to south are only running around 30%-40%.

Aloft, we'll see a blocking pattern set up toward the end of the week, which will allow an area of low pressure to deepen across the northeast. This dominant low will send reinforcing shots of colder air our way throughout the weekend. More to come on the colder weather!

The week ahead is filled with a little of everything. We’ll start off on the warm side cresting better than 85 degrees in many locations on Monday, but, by Tuesday a fair amount of moisture looks to make it back into the area on south southwesterly winds setting the stage for the possibility of some strong afternoon thunderstorms as a cold front passes through.

On the severe weather note and threat for Tuesday, forecasted cape values are high and dewpoints are better than 60 in the River Valley. The cold front will provide the necessary lift. Timing will be key and just how much sunshine we receive will largely dictate the severity of the storms. Hail, gusty winds will be the primary threat, though an isolated tornado can’t be ruled out. We’ll cool down quite substantially after this, with several days of temps slightly below seasonal averages.

A secondary shot of cold air looks to slide in on northwesterly flow for Thursday. At this point it does not appear to have a great amount of moisture with it, though temps look to flirt around the freezing mark in northern locations come Friday and Saturday morning. Make sure to protect those sensitive plants.

Have a great week!