Winter Weather in Jefferson, Wisconsin

A mix of snow, freezing rain, sleet, and some rain fell across South-central and Southeast Wisconsin during the overnight hours. Once temperatures dropped from the 32 to 35 degree range down to the 30 to 32 range, a glazing of ice up to 1/8 inch developed on untreated roads surfaces. Media reports indicated that hundreds of vehicle accidents and slide-offs occurred. Vehicle crash responders were overwhelmed and could not immediately respond to some of the accidents. Just after daybreak in the Civil Town of Oakland, southeast of Lake Mills in western Jefferson County, a vehicle slid into another vehicle, resulting in 1 fatality and 1 critical injury (both indirectly-related). West of Lake Mills, a hilly portion of Interstate-94 iced up about 2330CST February 26th, completely preventing west-bound vehicles from making it up the grade. Synoptically, a vigorous low pressure tracked out of the Nebraska area through Northern Illinois and then to the Lake Huron area. Prior to the freezing rain and glazing of road surfaces, showers and thunderstorms left rainfall amounts of around an inch along with some pea-size hail. At a location 5 SW Downtown Madison, an observer measured 1.31 inches of rain.