Winter Storm — Jefferson, Wisconsin

2007-04-11 · Jefferson, Wisconsin

Wider weather episode

A strong winter storm affected much of south-central and southeast Wisconsin on April 11th. Although heavy, wet snow accumulated to 3 to 8 inches, east-northeast winds gusting to around 30 to 42 knots (35 to 48 mph) created near-blizzard conditions (visibility of 1/4 to 1/2 mile for a couple hours) in open areas when convective bands of snow moved through. The maximum wind gust of 42 knots (48 mph) was measured at on the Kenosha city lakeshore. Some rain, freezing rain, and sleet were mixed in with the snow. With temperatures hovering around the freezing mark, some snowmelt occurred while it was snowing. The combination of ice accumulating on power lines, snow accumulations on trees and tree branches, and the gusty winds resulted in scattered power outages. About 10,000 customer lost electrical power in south-central Wisconsin and about 44,000 lost power in the southeastern counties. Newspaper articles indicated that there were numerous vehicle accidents due to slippery roads and poor visibilities. Many schools were closed. Milwaukee Mitchell Field (Milwaukee Co.) and Madison Truax Field (Dane Co.) both set new daily snowfall records of 7.0 and 5.3 inches, respectively. The old records were 3.2 and 3.8 inches, respectively; set back in 1997. Numerous airplane flights were delayed by up to 3 hour or more, or were cancelled at the Milwaukee and Madison airports. Other maximum county snowfall amounts, either measured or estimated, include 8 inches in southeast Marquette County, 8 inches in northcentral Columbia County, 8 inches in Hales Corner (Milwaukee Co.), 8 inches in Union Grove (Racine Co.), 8 inches in Delevan (Walworth Co.), 7 inches in Reedsburg (Sauk Co.), 7 inches in southwest Green Lake County, 7 inches in extreme northcentral Kenosha County, 7 inches in southeast Waukesha County, 6.9 inches in Mt. Horeb (Dane Co.), 6.5 inches in Clinton (Rock Co.), 6.5 inches in eastern Iowa County, 6.4 inches in Arygle (Lafayette Co.), 6.2 inches in Cedarburg (Ozaukee Co.) 6 inches in northwest Green County, 6 inches in western Dodge County, 6 inches in Jackson (Washington Co.), 6 inches in far northwest Jefferson County, and 5.5 to 6 inches in far northeast Fond du Lac County and far northwest Sheboygan Counties. On the low side, only 3 to 4 inches accumulated in a swath from Janesville to Watertown to Fond du Lac. At the start of the storm, a 17-year old boy died from the secondary effects (indirectly-related) of hypothermia/exposure near Busseyville in southwestern Jefferson County. He was found dead in a marshy location on Koshkonong Creek.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 29435. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.