Name: Heavy Snow in Wisconsin, March 20 to 21, 2002
Start: 2002-03-20T07:00
End: 2002-03-21T02:00
Location: Wisconsin

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 1 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

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The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 1

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 DLH wrote it up.

Lake effect snow dropped 6 inches of snow at Gurney and 8 inches at Hurley.

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 Duluth, MN wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Mar 20, 3:10 AM CST, 3 hours 50 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Mar 20, 3:10 AM CST, 3 hours 50 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DULUTH MN
310 AM CST WED MAR 20 2002

FORECAST FOCUS WILL BE ON SNOW CHANCES TODAY/TNGT...THEN TURN TO LES
FOR THE SOUTH SHORE TNGT/THUR. MODELS INITIALIZED RELATIVELY WELL AT
00Z. THE SEEM TO HAVE A GOOD HANDLE ON THE STRENGTH OF THE COLD
AIR...AND PRECIP DISTRIBUTION OVER THE LAST SEVERAL HOURS. WILL GO
WITH BLEND OF ETA/AVN TONIGHT.

BAROCLINIC ZONE ALONG THE N PLAINS INTENSIFIES TODAY...AS AN ARCTIC
HIGH BUILDS SOUTH OUT OF WESTERN CANADA. AN H5 SHORTWAVE MOVES
RAPIDLY EASTWARD ALONG IN THE ZONAL FLOW...AS AN H3 JET INTENSIFIES
TO 130KTS OVER CENTRAL MN. A MAXIMUM OF H3 DIVERGENCE AND H7 OMEGA
PRECEDE THE H5 VORT HELPING TO GENERATE A SHOT OF SNOW TODAY
AND TONIGHT. MOST OF THE SNOW WILL OCCUR ACROSS THE BAROCLINIC ZONE
IN THE AREA OF STRONGEST CAA/FRONTOGENETICAL FORCING. LITTLE TO NO
ISENTROPIC LIFT IS DEPICTED ON THE 280K SURFACE THROUGH THE EVENT...
WITH DOWNGLIDE PREDOMINANT ALREADY TONIGHT. A SURFACE LOW IN THE
PLAINS FOLLOWS THE STATIONARY FRONT EASTWARD TODAY...YET DOESNT
DEEPEN UNTIL LATER TONIGHT WHEN IT REACHES LOWER MICHIGAN. THE
HIGHER PRECIP TOTALS APPEAR TO HOLD OFF UNTIL THEN. OUR AREA SHOULD
SEE SNOW DEVELOPING THIS MORNING IN OUR MN CWA...AND PROGRESS EAST
WITH THE DYNAMICS. QPF TOTALS SUGGEST A 1-2/1-3 INCH SNOW BAND WILL
COVER MOST OF THE CWA.

AS FOR LES...AT THE ONSET OF THE EVENT...SURFACE FLOW IS NORTHEAST...
BUT H85 FLOW IS NW. THE DIRECTIONAL SHEAR GOES TO NEAR ZERO AROUND
03-06Z AS WINDS LINE UP FROM THE NORTH...WHICH MAXIMIZES THE STRENGTH
OF THE CAA. H7 OMEGA ALSO REMAINS IN PLACE DURING THAT TIME. THE
WINDS APPEAR TO BE ON A NEARLY CONSTANT SLOW CHANGE TO THE NW THROUGH
THE REST OF THE OVERNIGHT AND THUR MORNING...WHICH WOULD LIMIT THE
FETCH AT ANY ONE POINT IN TIME. STILL...THE STRENGTH OF THE COLD AIR
AND ADDITIONAL BOOST FROM SYNOPTIC LIFT SHOULD BE ENOUGH TO PUSH
SNOW TOTALS INTO ADVISORY LEVELS OVERNIGHT AND THUR MORNING. 4-5
INCHES W/IN 12 HOURS APPEARS A GOOD BET IN THE SNOW BELT. THE SNOW
WILL QUICKLY TAPER OFF BY MIDDAY ON THURSDAY...AS THE SFC TO H85 FLOW
BECOMES ALMOST WESTERLY.

WENT WITH BLEND OF GUID NUMBERS.

COORD WITH FGF..MQT...GRB AND MPX...THANKS

.DLH...LAKE SNOW ADVISORY TONIGHT INTO THURSDAY MORNING...WIZ002-004.

SHIMON

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.

Heavy Snow, Iron

When: March 20, 7:00 AM CST to March 21, 2:00 AM CST
Where: Iron forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 46.317, -90.264 (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

More

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: 5284646.