Wisconsin Winter Weather Thread 08-09 Version

[adamb100]

Here in Milwaukee its light flakes, snow is melting when it touches the ground.

[ewizabeff]

It's been snowing, but as adamb100 said, it's not sticking in Milwaukee. Looks like it won't be cold enough for it to stick until later in the night.

[adamb100]

Update: snow is starting to stick here.

[hawing]

It's just starting to stick to the sidewalks and parts of the streets in Madison, at almost 4:00 PM CST.

 

I thought I'd seen TV reports yesterday predicting lake effect snow in the Milwaukee/Racine/Kenosha corridor, but I could be wrong about that. Or it could be yet to come.

[trwi7]

Dang, you guys are lucky that it's just sticking now. I probably have three inches of snow on the ground right now.

[ewizabeff]

eh, my yard is still basically green.

[parkside21]

Snow really started picking up here in the last hour or so in the Fox Cities.....pretty much everything is covered now and new snow is falling sideways. Joy.

[NeedMoreFans]

You call this a storm? This is nothing. I'd rather have the high predictions and have less snow, vs. having low amounts predicted then getting slammed.

[Patrick425]

This is one of those storms where the lake effect snow is actually effecting the inland counties more than the counties by the lake. Unless you watch the weather or look at a radar it's a little hard to explain. The weather comes off the lake north of Milwaukee and streams inland mostly effecting counties like Waukesha. Also, it's warmer near the lake and there is higher water content in the snow there. It's melting more as it hits the ground.

edit: this radar picture illustrates what I'm talking about:

http://images.yuku.com/image/gif/a6f351ec95cb7b7cfc6097f11c93fa2d8f79a79.gif

[owbc]

As Patrick425 says, the reason for the botched forecasts near the lake is the warm lake Michigan water temperature keeping the air temperature around 35 degrees within 10 miles of the lake. This is very predictable but was not expected to be a factor until the surface low tracked much farther north than any of the computer models predicted, which resulted in a warmer thermal profile across all of Southern Wisconsin. The NWS office in Jefferson County has picked up over 5 inches already, as they are close enough to be affected by the lake-enhanced snow bands, but not the warmer temperatures.

 

With that being said, the temperatures should continue dropping and the winds will remain strong, so Milwaukee could still see 3-5" of snow. However, in Madison we only got 1-2" so far and we won't have the added lake effect snow tonight. Ironically, the grand totals should be near what was initially predicted 2 days ago.

 

No worries, though, there will be another chance at a decent snowfall on Wednesday.

[RyDogg66]

I tried taking my kids sledding in this stuff and it was like playing in a puddle.

[davego]

Got about 4 inches of snow in the LAX area. All of you are welcome to take as much as you like...I might even throw in delivery.

[Hammer]

One of the radio personalities up nort here said that George Graphos (sp?) in Green Bay told him yesterday that if the storm comes together on Wednesday the Fox Valley will get 6"-10" from the next storm. 2007-2008 winter all over again?

[Patrick425]

2007-2008 winter all over again?

You should be banned from the site for even suggesting that.

[owbc]

One of the radio personalities up nort here said that George Graphos (sp?) in Green Bay told him yesterday that if the storm comes together on Wednesday the Fox Valley will get 6"-10" from the next storm.

The latest model runs confirm that possibility. Right now, I would say a wide swath of 4-8" is possible somewhere over Wisconsin on Wednesday. As of today, the Fox Valley looks to be in the bullseye, but Madison and Milwaukee could easily get another 3-5". Even worse, a nice swath of arctic air moves in after that for the end of the week.

 

As for the awful prospect of another snowy winter, I would say that is highly unlikely at this point (statistically), but the 30-day outlook has been changed to forecast below-normal temperatures for December.

[Hammer]

Why, you Milwaukeeans were fun to watch with your shovels http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

[fondybrewfan]

I hate it when we get just enough snow to screw up the roads. I would just assume we get no snow at all or make it worth our while and get like a foot. I love every part of winter accept having to drive on the roads. It isn't so much the roads though, I am usually very careful when I am driving, it is the other drivers I worry about. It only takes one dude who thinks he can take a 35 MPH curve in the snow going 40 MPH with his Jetta to get me in a stinking accident.

[sbrylski]

Am I the only one who didn't really notice the apparently abnormal snowfall last winter? Seemed like just another winter to me, for the most part.

[trwi7]

Am I the only one who didn't really notice the apparently abnormal snowfall last winter? Seemed like just another winter to me, for the most part.

It was definitely just you. Milwaukee had the second highest snowfall on record last year at 99 inches.

[BrewCrewForever]

I think the "Winter of 2007-2008" should never ever be mentioned on this site again.

[RyDogg66]

Am I the only one who didn't really notice the apparently abnormal snowfall last winter? Seemed like just another winter to me, for the most part.

I take it you dont shovel your own walk or driveway?

 

Last winter was brutal. Rivaled in recent memory only by the winter of 2000-2001. Just about the entire state was near setting a record for snowfall.

[Patrick425]

Last winter was brutal. Rivaled in recent memory only by the winter of 2000-2001.

If I recall correctly, the brunt of the snow that fell that winter happened in December.

[RyDogg66]

Yeah there was a brutal run between Thanksgiving and Xmas, after that things settled back to normal, but I remember shoveling my driveway with drifts on either side at my waist to shoulders.

[Hammer]

I was living in La Crosse in 2000-2001 and remember driving to Oconomowoc in a blizzard to pick up my then fiance to get her back in time to go to work on something like December 30th or so. She would get $500 for perfect attendance at her college job so I risked it. That was nearly a deadly decision as a semi missed going right over my car by about a foot. I still have bad dreams about that near accident...

[PlayerHader]

So what's going on down south today? We've been under the winter weather advisory all day in Wausau and were supposed to get an inch or two, but it's been sunny for most of the day.