Heavy Snow, Marquette
- When
- March 12, 9:00 PM CST to March 13, 9:00 AM CST
- Where
- Marquette forecast zone
- Coordinates
- 43.820, -89.399 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Heavy Snow in Wisconsin, March 12 to 13, 1997
Strong warm air advection, focused into a narrow region by an upper level weather disturbance, triggered heavy snowfalls across parts of southcentral and eastcentral Wisconsin. Gusty northeast winds of 20 to 40 mph resulted in considerable blowing and drifting of the heavy, wet snow.
Where it happened
Every event with a place to put it; 9 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
- Tornadoes
- Tropical storms and surge
- Floods
- Wind
- Hail
- Winter weather
- Heat and drought
- Cold
- Fire, smoke and dust
- Marine and coastal
- Other
The toll
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- None recorded
- Crop damage
- None recorded
- Events
- 9
Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
What happened
The episode as NWS MKX wrote it up.
Strong warm air advection, focused into a narrow region by an upper level weather disturbance, triggered heavy snowfalls across parts of southcentral and eastcentral Wisconsin. Gusty northeast winds of 20 to 40 mph resulted in considerable blowing and drifting of the heavy, wet snow. Radar imagery suggested that the snowfall had a convective nature. A maximum of 13 inches fell at Dalton in southern Green Lake county. Other totals include 12 inches at Juneau (Dodge county), 10 inches at Portage (Columbia county) and in southeast Marquette county, 8 inches in Baraboo (Sauk county), and 6 to 7 inches across the southern parts of Fond du Lac and Sheboygan counties as well as the northern parts of Washington and Ozaukee counties. Numerous vehicle accidents were reported, resulting in several indirectly-related injuries.
The radar
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
Event by event
9 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.
Heavy Snow, Green Lake
- When
- March 12, 9:00 PM CST to March 13, 9:00 AM CST
- Where
- Green Lake forecast zone
- Coordinates
- 43.800, -89.045 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Heavy Snow, Fond du Lac
- When
- March 12, 9:00 PM CST to March 13, 9:00 AM CST
- Where
- Fond du Lac forecast zone
- Coordinates
- 43.754, -88.488 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Heavy Snow, Sheboygan
- When
- March 12, 9:00 PM CST to March 13, 9:00 AM CST
- Where
- Sheboygan forecast zone
- Coordinates
- 43.756, -87.800 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Heavy Snow, Sauk
- When
- March 12, 9:00 PM CST to March 13, 9:00 AM CST
- Where
- Sauk forecast zone
- Coordinates
- 43.427, -89.948 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Heavy Snow, Columbia
- When
- March 12, 9:00 PM CST to March 13, 9:00 AM CST
- Where
- Columbia forecast zone
- Coordinates
- 43.467, -89.334 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Heavy Snow, Dodge
- When
- March 12, 9:00 PM CST to March 13, 9:00 AM CST
- Where
- Dodge forecast zone
- Coordinates
- 43.416, -88.707 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Heavy Snow, Washington
- When
- March 12, 9:00 PM CST to March 13, 9:00 AM CST
- Where
- Washington forecast zone
- Coordinates
- 43.369, -88.231 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Heavy Snow, Ozaukee
- When
- March 12, 9:00 PM CST to March 13, 9:00 AM CST
- Where
- Ozaukee forecast zone
- Coordinates
- 43.403, -87.891 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
What these are
- Heavy Snow
- Snowfall reaching the local warning threshold without the other hazards of a winter storm.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- Winter Weather in Vermont, March 12, 1997
- Flood in Oklahoma, March 12, 1997
- Winter Storm in North Dakota, March 12 to 13, 1997
- Flash Flood in Texas, March 12, 1997
- Flooding in South Dakota, March 12 to 31, 1997
- Winter Storm in South Dakota, March 12 to 14, 1997
- Winter Storm in South Dakota, March 12 to 13, 1997
- Flooding in Iowa, March 12 to 31, 1997
- Winter Storm in Montana, March 12 to 13, 1997
- Winter Storm in Minnesota, March 12 to 14, 1997
- Heavy Snow in Montana, March 12 to 13, 1997
- Winter Storm in Wyoming, March 12 to 13, 1997
More
Every storm in Wisconsin in 1997Every state in 1997This day in weather historyWarnings in Wisconsin, March 1997
Sources
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-30. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5594002, 5594003, 5594004, 5594005, 5594006, 5594007, 5594008, 5594009, 5594010.