Winter Storm in Wisconsin, March 14 to 15, 2002

Name: Winter Storm in Wisconsin, March 14 to 15, 2002
Start: 2002-03-14T08:00
End: 2002-03-15T04:00
Location: Wisconsin

March 14 to 15, 2002 · NWS MPX · 9 events in 9 counties and zones

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

Open the live radar over this ground

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 MPX wrote it up.

An area of surface low pressure moved from the Oklahoma Panhandle during the early morning hours on Thursday the 14th, to northeastern Kansas by noon, and then proceeded to the Milwaukee, Wisconsin area by the early morning hours on Friday the 15th. Heavy snow fell across a wide swath of West Central Wisconsin. Some snowfall reports of note include: Luck - 16.0 inches; Cumberland - 10.0 inches; Chetek - 9.0 inches; Weyerhaeuser, Ellsworth and Big Falls all with 8.0 inches; Hudson - 6.0 inches.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Twin Cities, MN wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Mar 14, 3:30 AM CST, 4 hours 30 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Mar 14, 3:30 AM CST, 4 hours 30 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN MN
330 AM CST THU MAR 14 2002

SNOW HAS DEVELOPED IN REGION OF ISENTROPIC LIFT AHEAD OF UPPER
TROUGH...NOW OVER THE WY ROCKIES ON SATELLITE IMAGE.  DYNAMICS
CONTINUE TO BE IMPRESSIVE...BUT OVER ALL TREND IS TO SHIFT
PRECIPITATION MAXIMUM NORTH.  THERE IS A PROBLEM IN SRN MN WITH
WARMING THICKNESSES AFFECTING TYPE OF PRECIPITATION.  SLEET SHOULD
MIX WITH SNOW...BUT RAIN IS POSSIBLE.  SO A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY
WILL BE ISSUED FOR FAR SOUTH CENTRAL.  THE FORECAST WILL UPGRADE THE
REST OF THE WATCH AREA TO A WARNINGS...WITH THE HEAVIEST SNOW ACROSS
THE METRO AREA AND INTO W CENTRAL WI.  ADVISORIES WILL BE ISSUED FOR
ST CLOUD AND SOME W CENTRAL COUNTIES...BUT THE CUT OFF WILL BE SHARP
WITH DRY LOW LEVEL FLOW.

SNOW CONTINUES TONIGHT IN ERN MN AND WRN WI.  WITH THE UPPER LOW
TRACKING ACROSS THE AREA...SNOW SHOULD BE PERSISTENT.  SOME
LINGERING SNOW IN ERN MN AND WRN WI ON FRIDAY...BUT A DRY PERIOD
INTO SATURDAY.  EXTENDED FORECAST REMAINS UNCHANGED.

.MSP...WINTER STORM WARNING THROUGH MIDNIGHT SOUTH CENTRAL AND PART
       OF WEST CENTRAL.
       WINTER STORM WARNING THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT EAST CENTRAL
       MN INCLUDING THE METRO AND WEST CENTRAL WI.
       WINTER WEATHER ADVISORIES PART OF CENTRAL MN AND FREEBORN
       COUNTY.

SCOTT

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

9 winter storm. Local standard time, as filed.

Winter Storm, Barron

When: March 14, 8:00 AM CST to March 15, 4:00 AM CST
Where: Barron forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 45.424, -91.848 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Chippewa

When: March 14, 8:00 AM CST to March 15, 4:00 AM CST
Where: Chippewa forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 45.069, -91.280 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Dunn

When: March 14, 8:00 AM CST to March 15, 4:00 AM CST
Where: Dunn forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 44.947, -91.896 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Eau Claire

When: March 14, 8:00 AM CST to March 15, 4:00 AM CST
Where: Eau Claire forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 44.727, -91.286 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Pepin

When: March 14, 8:00 AM CST to March 15, 4:00 AM CST
Where: Pepin forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 44.483, -92.150 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Pierce

When: March 14, 8:00 AM CST to March 15, 4:00 AM CST
Where: Pierce forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 44.720, -92.422 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Polk

When: March 14, 8:00 AM CST to March 15, 4:00 AM CST
Where: Polk forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 45.461, -92.441 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Rusk

When: March 14, 8:00 AM CST to March 15, 4:00 AM CST
Where: Rusk forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 45.475, -91.133 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, St. Croix

When: March 14, 8:00 AM CST to March 15, 4:00 AM CST
Where: St. Croix forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 45.034, -92.453 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Winter Storm: A storm that brought snow, sleet or freezing rain at warning levels, usually over several hours or days.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Wisconsin in 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history Warnings in Wisconsin, March 2002

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 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5287029, 5287030, 5287031, 5287032, 5287033, 5287034, 5287035, 5287036, 5287037.