Van Buren, Arkansas Weather
Van Buren, Arkansas — live current conditions, hourly and 7-day forecasts, NWS alerts, radar and satellite imagery for Van Buren, Crawford County.
Full aviation weather for Van Buren is published on the Fort Smith Regional Airport (KFSM) page, 11 km away. It carries the current METAR decoded into plain language — surface wind, visibility, cloud layers and ceiling, temperature and dewpoint, and altimeter setting — alongside the raw observation as transmitted. 5 airfields within reach of Van Buren have their own pages, listed below.
The Terminal Aerodrome Forecast (TAF) is shown across its full validity period, with each change group broken out so you can see when conditions are expected to shift. Flight category is derived automatically — VFR, MVFR, IFR or LIFR — from reported ceiling and visibility, with runway details and field elevation alongside. Observations update roughly hourly and forecasts several times a day.
Other airports near Van Buren: Arrowhead Assault Strip (KAZU) 21 km · Sallisaw Municipal Airport (KJSV) 41 km · Ozark Franklin County Airport (K7M5) 47 km · Robert S Kerr Airport (KRKR) 52 km
Conditions reported at KFSM describe the airfield itself. Weather 11 km away can differ, particularly in terrain or near the coast. For conditions at Van Buren specifically, see the current conditions and forecast above.
About Van Buren, Arkansas
Van Buren unfolds along the broad, sinuous curve of the Arkansas River, its landscape a gentle, rolling terrain where verdant fields surrender to the patient embrace of ancient Ozark foothills. It lies 4.5 miles north-east of Fort Smith, AR (from Fort Smith, AR: bearing 39°T), and is situated 7.7 miles west-south-west of Alma. The air here, especially in the languid afternoons of late spring, carries the scent of damp earth and the faint, sweet perfume of wild honeysuckle, a fragrance that clings to the humid breeze. Sunlight, when it breaks through the frequent cloud cover, possesses a peculiar, diffused quality, softening the edges of the weathered brick buildings that line the historic downtown and lending a pearlescent sheen to the slow-moving waters of the river. Streets, lined with mature trees whose branches arch overhead like sheltering arms, are often quiet, the occasional rumble of a passing truck or the distant call of a bird the dominant sounds. This place, Van Buren, has long been a crossroads, its fortunes shaped by the very river that defines its character. For generations, the Arkansas River was the lifeblood of commerce, carrying timber, cotton, and manufactured goods, a constant thrum of activity that once pulsed through its docks and warehouses. Today, while the river still flows with its undeniable power, the economy of Van Buren has diversified, with a growing presence in manufacturing and a steady stream of visitors drawn to its preserved historic district, a testament to its past as a significant steamboat port. The echoes of its frontier days, of traders and travelers who navigated these waters, seem to linger in the very stones of the old courthouse and the quiet dignity of the antebellum homes that still stand, whispering their stories to anyone who pauses to listen.
Live animated radar for Van Buren and surroundings — RainViewer.
NOAA GOES-16 GEOCOLOR — live animated loop updated every 10 minutes. Shows cloud cover, storm systems and weather patterns across the continental US.
Source: NOAA/NESDIS GOES-East · Public domain · Auto-updates on page reload
| Location | Van Buren, Crawford County, Arkansas |
| Coordinates | 35.436756°N, 94.348268°W |
| Timezone | Central Time (America/Chicago) |
| ZIP Code(s) | 72956, 72957 |
| Area Code | 479 |
| Page generated | September 2026 |
| Weather data | Open-Meteo (open-source), NOAA National Weather Service |
About This Van Buren, Arkansas Weather Page
This page provides live weather conditions and forecasts for Van Buren, Arkansas, including current conditions, a 24-hour hourly forecast, 7-day outlook, NWS extended text forecast, precipitation radar and NOAA GOES-16 satellite imagery. Aviation weather — live METAR observations and TAF forecasts — is published separately on the pages for the nearest reporting airports, linked from the aviation section above. Additional sections may include tide predictions, wave height, wave direction and sea-surface temperature, a barometric pressure trend, and a solunar-based fishing forecast with a fishing-conditions rating for coastal localities, and soil temperature, crop weather and live USGS river gauge data for agricultural areas near a monitored waterway. All data updates automatically on every page visit.
Location data for Van Buren includes coordinates 35.436756°N, 94.348268°W, situated in Crawford County. ZIP code 72956, 72957. Telephone area code: 479. Timezone: Central Time (America/Chicago).
Weather data is sourced from the NOAA National Weather Service (NWS) and the open-source Open-Meteo API. River and stream data is sourced from the USGS National Water Information System. Tide predictions are sourced from NOAA CO-OPS; marine and solunar data are modeled from Open-Meteo and public sunrise/moon calculations and should be treated as a general guide alongside on-the-water conditions. Radar is provided by RainViewer. Satellite imagery is sourced from NOAA/NESDIS GOES-East and is public domain.
