For the past two weeks, we've experienced some of the warmest weather on record (at least within our lifetimes). The flowers are blooming and the buds on bushes and trees are popping like its early May. I think of places like Washington D.C. and Mackinaw Island which have festivals for the blooming of cherry blossoms and lilac bushes. Something tells me they won't have anything to look at beyond April.
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| Anyone remember the snow? |
Here are a few of the storms:
March 13-14, 1997 - West Central / Northeast Wisconsin - Snowstorm - 12 to 28 inches. Twenty-eight inches at Wautoma in Waushara County.
March 8-9, 1998 - Southwest / Central - Blizzard - 8 to 12 inches. Wind gusts reached 40 to 60 mph at times, causing frequent whiteout conditions. The heaviest snow total was 11.7 inches at Muscoda.
March 18-19, 2005 – West-Central – Winter Storm – 18 to 23 inches in a swath from southern Buffalo County to western Jackson County, with 12 to 15.6 inches in La Crosse County. The maximum of 23 inches occurred in northwestern Jackson County.
March 13-14, 2006 – West-central to North Central – Winter Storm – 17 to 32 inches of heavy, wet snow swath from St. Croix County northeast to Iron County. Thundersnow enhanced the accumulations. In Iron County, Gile measured 32 inches while Upson had 27 inches. In Ashland County, Mellen gathered 27 inches. Very poor visibility resulted from gusty winds around 30 mph, and drifting resulted in hundreds of accidents. Locals said it was the worst storm since the 1980s.
March 21, 2008 – Southern Wisconsin – Winter Storm – 6 to 18.5 inches in a wide swath from La Crosse to the Milwaukee to Kenosha area. The West Bend Port Washington-Milwaukee area picked up 12 to 18.5 inches. West Allis had high honors with 18.5 inches, 13 to 15 inches fell in the Kenosha area, and 14.8 inches piled up west of Beaver Dam. Some convective bands of heavy snow were
reported.
Just last year, we had this:
March 22-23, 2011 – Northern and central portions of state – This late season winter storm resulted from a strong area of low pressure interacting with a cold air mass in place across the upper Midwest. Moderate to heavy snow fell late the 22nd, continuing into much of the day on the 23rd, bringing 5-10” of snow to the Northern half of the state. Thunderstorms developing in Iowa moved Northeast into colder air, resulting in locally heavy snow with numerous reports of thunder and lightning. This resulted in higher totals across Northeast parts of the state where 12-18 inches fell. Sleet and freezing rain mixed in for central parts of the state with some heavy ice accumulations. Gusty Easterly winds produced near blizzard conditions for Northeast parts of the state and also helped to bring down a 2,000 foot media broadcast tower near Eau Claire in combination with heavy ice accumulations. Green Bay recorded a two day storm total of 17.8 inches, the biggest snowstorm in over 120 years and the 3rd largest recorded snowstorm. In fact, this resulted in the first winter Green Bay had had 3 major snowstorms producing 10 inches or more of accumulation!
And let's not forget April:
April 27-28, 2002 - Northeast Wisconsin - Snowstorm - 8 to 20 inches. A late season
storm brought significant heavy, wet snow accumulations in a narrow axis from
Florence to Merrill. Most of the snow fell within 12 hours as a heavy rate with
numerous reports of thunder and lightning. Elcho received the most snow with 20
inches of accumulation.
So we need to enjoy the warm weather while we have it. And I'm not jumping on the global warming wagon either (just look at some of those storms from the past few years!) Weather can -- and will change. I suspect our 70 degree forecast won't last for much longer.
Why? Because it wasn't in the forecast on March 2-4, 1881 when Southern / Central Wisconsin was expected to receive up to 2 to 4 feet of snow. Drifts of snow could reach 20 feet.
So don't put those shovels away just yet.
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