A strong weather system brought heavy rains to southern California, and snow to Las Vegas, before moving northeast into the Great Plains on Thursday (December 18). By Thursday night, precipitation had erupted over Iowa and Northern Illinois with widespread freezing rain, sleet , and snow. Heavy snow moved into northeast Iowa and southwest Wisconsin around midnight and spread northeast through Minnesota and Wisconsin the remainder of the overnight. By Friday morning, snow continued early but then shifted east and ended by noon.
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| Radar Loop 9 pm Dec 18 (Thu) to 10 am Dec 19 (Fri) |
National Radar and Surface Pressure Loop |
Snowfall totals from the storm were generally in the 6 to 10 inch range across northeast Iowa and southwest Wisconsin from the storm. 11 to 13 inches was observed around Platteville in Grant County in extreme southwest Wisconsin. Further north, a band of 3 to 5 inches was found along a broad corridor paralleling I-90. Little if any snow fell north of Highway 29 from Minneapolis to Eau Claire Wisconsin, to Wausau Wisconsin.
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| Snowfall Totals Through 8 am Friday (click to enlarge) |
A Winter Storm Watch was issued for this storm very early Wednesday morning for the Thursday night through Friday morning period. These were later upgraded to Winter Storm Warnings across southwest Wisconsin and extreme northeast Iowa (at 4pm Wednesday), the remainder of northeast Iowa and central WIsconsin (at 4 am Thursday), and the Interstate 90 corridor from La Crosse to Rochester (in the early afternoon Thursday). Snow Advisories were issued north of I-90. This provided between 12 to as much as 30 hours of advance notice of the heavy snow hazard coming in. Below is the Graphical Weather Story issued at around 11 am Thursday summarizing the impacts expected:
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| Forecast Issued Thursday Morning For Thursday Night and Friday |
Detailed List of Snowfall Totals
PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LA CROSSE WI 1114 AM CST FRI DEC 19 2008 ...RECENT REPORTED SNOWFALL TOTALS... LOCATION SNOWFALL TIME LAT/LON IOWA ...ALLAMAKEE COUNTY... POSTVILLE 9.5 0700 AM 43.09N 91.56W DORCHESTER 8.9 0700 AM 43.47N 91.51W WAUKON 7.0 0617 AM 43.27N 91.48W WAUKON 8NW 7.0 0721 AM 43.34N 91.6W ...CHICKASAW COUNTY... IONIA 2W 10.0 0700 AM 43.03N 92.50W ...CLAYTON COUNTY... FARMERSBURG 9.5 0620 AM 42.96N 91.37W ELKADER 6SSW 8.6 0700 AM 42.79N 91.45W STRAWBERRY POINT 8.5 0700 AM 42.69N 91.53W EDGEWOOD 7.5 0700 AM 42.65N 91.40W ...FAYETTE COUNTY... FAYETTE 10.4 0700 AM 42.85N 91.82W CLERMONT 9.5 0617 AM 43.00N 91.65W CLERMONT 8.2 0700 AM 43.00N 91.66W WADENA 8.0 0758 AM 42.84N 91.66W OELWEIN 1WNW 6.0 0808 AM 42.68N 91.93W OELWEIN 1E 6.2 0700 AM 42.68N 91.88W ...FLOYD COUNTY... CHARLES CITY COOP 7.0 0700 AM 43.08N 92.67W ...HOWARD COUNTY... CRESCO 10.5 0714 AM 43.38N 92.13W MCINTIRE 3E 8.3 0937 AM 43.44N 92.53W ELMA 8.0 0700 AM 43.24N 92.44W CRESCO CO-OP 6.5 0700 AM 43.37N 92.11W ...MITCHELL COUNTY... ST ANSGAR 7NW 9.0 0824 AM 43.44N 93.01W OSAGE 8.5 0708 AM 43.29N 92.81W ST ANSGAR 7.4 0700 AM 43.37N 92.83W ...WINNESHIEK COUNTY... CALMAR 9.2 0746 AM 43.18N 91.87W DECORAH 8ENE 9.0 0851 AM 43.33N 91.7W WAUCOMA 3SE 8.0 0700 AM 43.02N 91.98W MINNESOTA ...DODGE COUNTY... MANTORVILLE 6.5 0651 AM 44.07N 92.76W DODGE CENTER 5.0 0700 AM 44.04N 92.88W ...FILLMORE COUNTY... HARMONY 8.5 0938 AM 43.56N 92.01W SPRING VALLEY 3SW 7.0 0800 AM 43.66N 92.43W SPRING VALLEY 6.6 0800 AM 43.69N 92.39W PETERSON 1S 6.4 0920 AM 43.78N 91.82W PRESTON 6.2 0700 AM 43.67N 92.07W LANESBORO 5.0 0700 AM 43.72N 91.97W SPRING VALLEY 3E 4.6 0522 AM 43.68N 92.31W CHATFIELD 4.5 0744 AM 43.84N 92.19W ...HOUSTON COUNTY... CALEDONIA 6.0 0700 AM 43.63N 91.50W RENO 3SW 5.4 0639 AM 43.53N 91.33W SPRING GROVE 4N 4.0 0700 AM 43.61N 91.62W ...MOWER COUNTY AUSTIN KAAL TV 6.5 0808 AM 43.68N 92.95W GRAND MEADOW 8.4 0700 AM 43.71N 92.56W ...OLMSTED COUNTY... STEWARTVILLE 5.6 0834 AM 43.86N 92.49W ROCHESTER KTTC TV 5.5 0808 AM 44.08N 92.51W ROCHESTER 2NW 5.5 0620 AM 44.03N 92.49W BYRON 3N 5.5 0700 AM 44.07N 92.66W ORONOCO 5.4 1046 AM 44.16N 92.54W ROCHESTER 3NE 5.1 0910 AM 44.03N 92.45W ROCHESTER AP 2NE 4.8 0700 AM 43.93N 92.48W BYRON 4N 4.0 0703 AM 44.08N 92.67W ELGIN 2SSW 3.4 0700 AM 44.10N 92.27W ...WABASHA COUNTY... THEILMAN 1SSW 4.3 0700 AM 44.28N 92.19W HAMMOND 1S 4.0 0840 AM 44.21N 92.37W ZUMBRO FALLS 3.3 0700 AM 44.29N 92.42W READS LANDING 1W 3.1 0841 AM 44.40N 92.17W WABASHA 2.7 0700 AM 44.39N 92.05W ...WINONA COUNTY... WINONA 3S 5.0 0934 AM 44.02N 91.66W WINONA 4S 4.0 0933 AM 44.01N 91.66W GOODVIEW 3.8 1102 AM 44.07N 91.71W WINONA 3.2 0536 AM 44.05N 91.66W WINONA DAM 5A 2.0 0700 AM 44.09N 91.67W WISCONSIN ...ADAMS COUNTY... ARKDALE 3.5 0639 AM 44.03N 89.88W MONROE CENTER 3.5 0700 AM 44.11N 89.92W FRIENDSHIP 2.8 0700 AM 43.98N 89.83W ...CLARK COUNTY... NEILLSVILLE 4NNE 3.0 1110 AM 44.61N 90.56W NEILLSVILLE 3SW 2.0 0700 AM 44.53N 90.64W LONGWOOD 2.0 0942 AM 44.88N 90.6W OWEN 2N 0.5 0700 AM 44.98N 90.55W ...CRAWFORD COUNTY... STEUBEN 10.1 0751 AM 43.18N 90.86W PRAIRIE DU CHIEN 8.6 0700 AM 43.05N 91.13W LYNXVILLE 8.0 0642 AM 43.26N 91.06W STEUBEN 4SE 8.0 0700 AM 43.13N 90.84W ...JACKSON COUNTY... BLACK RIVER FALLS STP 6.0 0700 AM 44.29N 90.85W TAYLOR 5.0 0700 AM 44.32N 91.12W ...JUNEAU COUNTY... MAUSTON WRJC RADIO 7.0 1021 AM 43.82N 90.07W NECEDAH 2SE 3.8 0700 AM 44.00N 90.04W ...GRANT COUNTY... PLATTEVILLE 2S 13.0 0958 AM 42.72N 90.48W PLATTEVILLE 11.6 0706 AM 42.74N 90.48W LANCASTER 8.5 0722 AM 42.85N 90.71W CASSVILLE 8NE 6.0 0921 AM 42.80N 90.89W ...LA CROSSE COUNTY... LA CROSSE 5SE 7.0 0700 AM 43.77N 91.15W LA CROSSE 5.5 0809 AM 43.83N 91.23W HOLMEN 2S 4.7 0800 AM LA CROSSE WFO 4.3 0700 AM 43.82N 91.19W HOLMEN 3.0 0700 AM 43.97N 91.27W ...MONROE COUNTY... WILTON 7.0 0733 AM 43.82N 90.53W TUNNEL CITY 1S 5.3 0700 AM 44.01N 90.57W WARRENS 5WSW 5.1 0700 AM 44.10N 90.59W FOUR CORNERS 4.0 0700 AM 44.07N 90.92W SPARTA 3.7 0700 AM 43.94N 90.82W ...RICHLAND COUNTY... RICHLAND CENTER 4W 12.5 1024 AM 43.33N 90.46W ITHACA 2S 9.0 0702 AM 43.33N 90.28W GILLINGHAM 8.5 1000 AM ...TREMPEALEAU COUNTY... GALESVILLE 1S 4.0 0700 AM 44.06N 91.36W BLAIR 4.0 0700 AM 44.29N 91.22W ARCADIA 4.0 0812 AM 44.25N 91.49W INDEPENDENCE 3NE 3.0 0943 AM 44.39N 91.39W GALESVILLE 2ENE 3.0 0842 AM 44.09N 91.31W GALESVILLE 2.5 0920 AM 44.08N 91.36W ...VERNON COUNTY... LA FARGE 7.0 0700 AM 43.57N 90.64W VIROQUA 5.7 0700 AM 43.55N 90.90W STODDARD 2NE 5.5 0806 AM 43.67N 91.2W VIROQUA 5.5 0553 AM 43.58N 90.88W VIROQUA 5.5 0852 AM 43.55N 90.89W HILLSBORO 5.3 0700 AM 43.65N 90.33W DE SOTO 5.0 0554 AM 43.43N 91.2W WESTBY 3ENE 4.9 0700 AM 43.68N 90.81W STODDARD 3NE 4.8 0653 AM 43.72N 91.17W OBSERVATIONS ARE COLLECTED FROM A VARIETY OF SOURCES WITH VARYING EQUIPMENT AND EXPOSURE. NOT ALL DATA LISTED IS CONSIDERED OFFICIAL.
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