Trying to do a few things at once tonight but I wanted to write a quick blog about what is going to be happening tomorrow.  As most people have probably heard we are going to see a significant Winter Storm,  it will likely be the worst storm that we have seen this season.  The last one we saw that produced a foot of snow was back in December, so it has been a couple months since we have seen a storm that produces more than a few inches here and there.  To break all down I made this map:

This map correlates with the National Weather Service in where they have issued there warnings and advisories.  The brunt of the storm should hit central Wisconsin, I think the most significant snow will be from Rhinelander to Wisconsin Rapids or Highway 8 to Highway 10.  The 29 corridor will also see very heavy snow.  Travel will be discouraged tomorrow.  The issue that Adams and Juneau or Wisconsin Dells will have is the possible mix they could see on top of the snow.  This means it will not only be snow covered but possible icy.  In the far north we will see moderate snow and should still see totals up to 10 inches which will still make for hazardous conditions.

On top of the snow that will fall, it will be blowing and drifting which will equate to white outs and blizzard like conditions.  All in all by late morning through midday Monday we will see slick roads and dangerous travel. 

We still have a Winter Storm Warning from tomorrow morning through noon Monday for all counties except for Vilas, Oneida, Ashland and Iron which are under a Winter Weather Advisory for a similar time frame.  I believe the snow will spread from southwest to northeast as the low tracks from the Rockies to near the Missouri/Iowa border and eventually skirting south of us through Illinois.  The heavy snow will spread across Sunday afternoon and evening and should taper in intensity overnight. 

Please use precaution and be careful! Meteorologist Kristen Connolly

Posted under Snow Totals, Snow totals, Weather History, Weather NEws, Weather Safety, Winter Weather

As promised I am going to try and compare and contrast this weekend’s storm to the storm we saw on Dec 8th and 9th.  It is always hard to compare storms because there are several factors including time and totals, pressure, winds, temps etc.  I did a list of snow totals from the storm yesterday so today  I went back and got a list of totals from the storm we saw on the 8/9th…

Polonia: 10.0″   Wausau: 11.5  Pittsville: 8.8   Antigo: 8.0   Scandinavia: 15.6      Iola: 14.0

Rhinelander: 7.0   Wisc. Rapids: 9.5      Wild Rose: 14.4    Merrill: 9.0    Mosinee: 9.3

Wautoma: 16     Abbotsford: 9.5    Necedah: 11.0     Withee: 11.0   Friendship: 8.6

Park Falls: 5.0     Minocqua: 5.0   Medford: 11.0    Tomohawk: 8.5     Neillsville: 9.0

Lake Camelot: 11.0     Marshfield: 8.0     Weston: 10.0   Goodrich: 6.0

Lake enhanced…..   Gile: 14.5        10w Montreal 24.0″

Some areas were comparable.. Scandinavia had I believe had 13.5″ from this one.  Marshfieldwas more this time around with 14.0″, above they have 8.0″. I think the ball park estimates were similar from 6″ to 16″ with last years and this years I would say more from 8″ to 20″.   We did see more snow is some areas from this storm, both Friendship and Black River Falls had over 20 inches but this also brings me to my next point..

If I had to compare the biggest difference it would be in the way of time.  If you remember last years begin really around 9 pm and continued I would say till 9 am.  So around a 12 hour period.  This years storm started around 2 am and went until 7 am they following day.  So just over a 24 hour period.  This also affected the plows…they used up the time they could be out by 8 pm on Saturday night.  That mean from 8 pm to 4 am we had very few plows in Marathon county out.  I can attest driving home and trying to plow through 6 inches or more was quite a test and I have four wheel drive.  I know many people could not drive or were stuck.

I would say winds for both of the storms were comparable. I saw over 40 mph gusts betweenboth the storms.  Both this storm and last storm, the city of Medford had a gust to 36.   I give that city one of the “worst weather” this weekend considering they saw a higher totals than most, over 20 inches and had gusts up to 40 mph. 

If you had to ask my opinion I think for our viewing area this one would beat out last years but I think it all depends on where you live and whether you like the snow to come fast or slow. 

Here are a few pics:

 The caption on this one was “Enjoy Life, go south, WAY south.” That made me laugh!

This dog is to funny.

Meteorologist Kristen Connolly

Posted under Snow Totals, Snow totals, Viewer pictures, Weather History, Weather NEws, Weather Safety, Winter Weather

First I want to say Mother Nature has a funny way of planning.  Justin had to come in on his vacation to help keep everything updated! I want to say a big THANK YOU to him for helping out.  When winter storms happen they usually are prolonged events, unlike severe weather which lasts a few hours.   I also want to say I can’t believe it happened the day before Brian left! Since I worked many days with him we always enjoyed discussing big weather events.  I knew he was going to be bummed to miss this one ( and I was right!).  He was a great meteorologist, friend and co worker and he will be dearly missed by myself, WAOW and the community.  Lastly, I have not had the opportunity to work with Tony ( Brian was already in place when I arrived )so I look forward to learning from a veteran met in the coming months. On to the blog….

The snow has come and gone for most of us and not it is going to be the wind chills! We will see extreme cold for the next two days so whatever you do bundle up.  I am not just talking about wearing a jacket… I mean layers, hat, gloves, and a scarf.  With wind chills in the 20 to 30 range below zero we could see frostbite cases in 20 minutes or less.  This is serious and not something to joke around about.  Ok now onto the snow totals and records broken.

When it comes to snowfall totals the only cities that are considered “official” are Wausau and Rhinelander however we still have records for other cities.  I took time tonight to try and sort out the records and find the most accurate snow total from yesterdays storm.  I believe I have them all right and that proves that every single city that we keep records for broke the snow total yesterday!  I guess when you see a foot on average that is what happens.  I am also going to list some significant totals that I saw from around our area.  Tomorrow I will touch on comparing this storm to last years Dec 8th/9th just because to will be to much for one blog. On to the records…Dec 11th

                                  Snow       Previous Record

Wausau                  12.8″            6.0″/1899

Rhinelander          10.3″             1.4″/1964

Stevens Point          8.0″              3.0″/1901

Wisc. Rapids             9.6″              3.0/1961

Marshfield                14.0″             4.5″/1983 and 1932

Merrill                        11.2″               3.0″/1983

Antigo                        7.0″                 4.0″/1904

Other significant totals:

Black River Falls    21.6″

Frienship    21.2″

Warrens     20.8″

Medford     20.5″

Nekoosa    16.5″

Owen     15.8″

Marshfield   14.0″

Will we see another big snowfall this year? Time will only tell…. as I blogged about last week what is normal for winter storms….find out!

I will make sure to add some viewer pics from the storm in tomorrows blog.

Have a good night and see you in the morning! Meteorologist Kristen Connolly

Posted under Snow Totals, Snow totals, Weather History, Weather NEws, Weather Safety, Winter Weather