Summary of Thursday's snowstorm and cold temps.

Snow totals from Thursday, arctic air settled in on the new snow Friday and Saturday.

NWS La Crosse put together a good map showing snow totals across Minnesota and Wisconsin (to the right).

The northern three-quarters of Wisconsin and all of Minnesota got in on the snow, and as always, the UP of Michigan had some blizzard conditions.

I wasn't really impressed with NWS Minneapolis's snow total map. It looks like some new computer generated map that they are trying out. It's not terrible, but they've done better in the past.

Otherwise, I'll post the maps from NWS Duluth and NWS Green Bay.

From northeast and east-central Wisconsin.

The highest totals (map) in the NWS Green Bay's forecast area (FA):

10.5" Pestigo, Marinette County
8.5" Ephraim 5 SE, Door County
7.1" Ephraim 1 NE, Door County

In addition to the snow, eastern Wisconsin heard some thunder during the snow and measured some pretty high winds (summary here).

Peak gusts:

45 mph at Green Bay, Brown Co.
44 mph at Algoma, Kewaunee Co.
43 mph at Oshkosh, Winnebago Co.
40 mph at Sturgeon Bay, Door Co.

OSNW3 has a great blog post showing the progress of the snowstorm in Oshkosh, WI. The post contains five snow measurements with photos, videos, and radar loops.

Far northern Wisconsin.

I measured 4.0" at my location, and it seems that between 4 and 5 inches fell in my area.

Lake-effect snow enhancement was a possibility with northeast winds off Lake Superior, but it wasn't a huge factor. Perhaps the air was too dry or is simply too much ice.

The Penokee Range in Ashland and Iron counties received the heaviest snow in northern Wisconsin. The higher terrain and the Lake always make this a favorable location.

The highest reports from the NWS Duluth's Wisconsin FA (map):

9.5" Gile, Iron Co.
8.0" Ironwood, Gogebic Co., MI.

Snow depth on Maple Hill.

I like to keep an eye on the snow depth gauge, but the snow seems to drift away from it too often. Based on my other snow depth measurements, the gauge under-represents average depth. Either way, I thought I'd include a picture of the gauge, just as a reference (to the left).

My recent snow depth measurements (at 7:00):

19.4" Wednesday morning
18.5" Thursday morning
22.2" Friday morning
21.6" Saturday morning

This is a view out across the deck to the northeast (to the right), in the background is the valley and the next set of hills. This is a good example of the farthest view I have from the house here on the hill.

My snow measurements after the storm:

4.0" new snow
0.46" water equivalent
9:1 snow-to-liquid ratio

22.2" snow depth
72.7" winter snow total

Arctic air followed the snow.

I liked NWS Duluth's forecast discussion from 19:13 on Friday evening (2.27.09):

AT THIS TIME THERE ARE THREE
SOURCES OF ARCTIC AIR... A
DEEP MASS OVER AND WEST OF
HUDSON BAY, A SHALLOW LAYER
ASSOCIATED WITH HIGH PRESSURE
OVER THE RED RIVER VALLEY AND
THE MANITOBA LAKES. BOTH ARE
CONTINENTAL ARCTIC IN NATURE.


A THIRD SOURCE OF ARCTIC AIR RESIDES OVER THE THICK, VIRTUALLY UNBROKEN, AND DEEPENING ICE
OVER CENTRAL AND WESTERN LAKE SUPERIOR... AN APPARENT MARITIME ARCTIC AIR MASS USUALLY
ASSOCIATED WITH ICE CAPS.

THE THICK ICE COVER ACTS LIKE THE BOTTOM OF THOSE FLAT VALLEYS NEAR AND NORTH OF
THE IRON RANGE. THE LOW ELEVATION OF THE LAKE CAUSES THE COLD AIR MASS TO COLLECT
THERE. THE LAST TM THE LAKE ACTED LIKE A FLOOR OF A DRY VALLEY WAS FEB AND EARLY
MAR 2003 WHEN THERE WAS AN EXTENSIVE AND DEEP ICE COVER.

So, arctic high pressure brought in cold air behind Thursday's snowstorm. In addition, Lake Superior
is acting like a collection point for cold air due to its bowl shape and thick ice coverage. As a
feedback, the ice will continue to thicken as long as the cold air is parked over the region.

I'll have a post in a few days on Lake Superior's ice cover.

Cold yesterday and overnight on 
Maple Hill.

I clipped this screenshot (to the right)
from my weather station this morning. It
shows graphed temperatures (blue) and
wind chill values (purple) beginning at
midnight on Thursday morning.

Throughout the snow storm on Thursday,
temperatures fell from a high of 20.2 and
continued falling until Friday morning
when a low of -5 was reached.

Saturday morning was bright, clear, and cold with a low temperature of -11.1 at my location. Inland
areas of northern Wisconsin and the UP of Michigan reached down into the minus 20s (see map
above).