Winter Storm — Menominee, Wisconsin

2011-02-20 to 2011-02-21 · Menominee, Wisconsin

Wider weather episode

A potent storm system moved out of the Rockies and across the nation's mid-section into Iowa and Illinois on February 20-21. Abundant moisture ahead of this storm led to the development of snow across central and east-central Wisconsin during the day February 20th. Thunder and lightning was reported with the heavy snow in several locations during the afternoon and evening at the height of the storm.

Very dry Canadian air, which moved into far northeast Wisconsin from the north, prevented much, if any snow, to fall there. This resulted in a large gradient of snowfall across the region. Twenty-four hour snowfall totals generally ranged from 8 to 12 inches along and near Highway 29 from Wausau to Green Bay.

An upper level low pressure system, which lagged behind the surface storm center, produced another 2 to 4 inches of snow on February 21, bringing two-day storm totals to 13.9 inches at Green Bay (Brown Co.) and 13.0 inches at Appleton (Outagamie Co.). All time two-day February snowfalls were broken at Wausau (Marathon Co.) with 13.5 inches and Stevens Point (Portage Co.) with 15.8 inches.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 283726. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.