Cold arctic air flowing over the relatively warm surface of Lake Superior allowed heavy snow bands to develop and fall across Iron and Ashland counties in northwestern Wisconsin. Snow began around noon on Dec.
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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.
The episode as NWS DLH wrote it up.
Cold arctic air flowing over the relatively warm surface of Lake Superior allowed heavy snow bands to develop and fall across Iron and Ashland counties in northwestern Wisconsin. Snow began around noon on Dec. 6th and ended during the mid afternoon hours on Dec. 7th. Totals ranged from 8 inches to nearly a foot from five miles east of Highbridge to Gile and Hurley.
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 Dec 6, 10:49 AM CST, 1 hour 11 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DULUTH MN
1049 AM CST WED DEC 6 2006
.UPDATE...UPGRADED ASHLAND COUNTY TO LAKE EFFECT WARNING THIS
MORNING AND ALSO MOVED START TIME TO 18Z TODAY. VISIBLE SATELLITE
IMAGERY CONFIRMS LAKE EFFECT SNOW BANDS STARTING TO DEVELOP THIS
MORNING IN NORTHWEST FLOW. WITH CONTINUED CAA THIS AFTERNOON AND
THEN BIGGER COLD PUSH THIS EVENING...WOULD LIKE WARNING ALREADY IN
EFFECT. LOCALIZED AREAS ALONG THE GOGEBIC RANGE IN ASHLAND COUNTY
ARE EXPECTED TO RECEIVE WARNING CRITERIA SNOW AMOUNTS THROUGH
TOMORROW AS WELL.
&&
.PREV DISCUSSION... (ISSUED 648 AM CST WED DEC 6 2006)
UPDATE...
THE CLIPPER THAT LEFT LIGHT AMOUNTS OF SNOW TUESDAY HAS
INTENSIFIED AND MOVED OVER JAMES BAY. STRENGTHENING HIGH PRESSURE
IS MOVING SOUTH INTO NORTHERN ALBERTA AND NORTHERN SASKATCHEWAN
ATTM. AND...THE LEADING EDGE OF THE ARCTIC AIR IS STARTING TO
MOVE INTO THE MANITOBA LAKES BASIN. THE INTENSIFYING GRADIENT
BETWEEN THE HIGH AND THE LOW IS PULLING THE COLD AIR RAPIDLY
TOWARD OUR AREA. THE LEADING EDGE SHOULD REACH THE AREA AND BEGIN
TO STIMULATE RAPID GROWTH OF SNOW SQUALLS OVER THE LAKE LATE THIS
AFTERNOON. WE HAVE HAD ONE MIDNIGHT HIGH ACROSS THE AREA LAST
NIGHT...AND THE STRENGTH OF THE COMING COLD ADVECTION MAY GIVE US
AN ADDITIONAL MIDNIGHT HIGH...AT A MUCH COLDER LEVEL...TONIGHT.
WITH SURFACE CONVERGENCE AND TIGHTENING OF THE GRADIENT ACROSS
CENTRAL CANADA...SURFACE CONVERGENCE IS BEING FORCED UPON THE
ARCTIC COLUMN...COOLING IT. 850 MB TEMPERATURES MAY COOL TO -25C
BY THE TIME THE CORE OF THE COLD AIR MOVES OVER EARLY THURSDAY
MORNING. WE ANCPT TWO SUBZER0 NIGHTS COMING UP ACROSS OUR ENTIRE
AREA...WITH HIGHS POSSIBLY NO MORE THAN -15C NORTH OF DULUTH
THURSDAY. WITH A STEEP LAPSE RATE AND COPIOUS MOMENTUM
TRANSFER...WINDS IN THE ARCTIC AIR COULD GUST TO 30 KTS AT TIMES.
&&
.DLH WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
MN...NONE.
WI...LAKE EFFECT SNOW WARNING UNTIL 6 PM CST THURSDAY FOR ASHLAND-
BAYFIELD-IRON.
LS...SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY UNTIL 6 AM CST FRIDAY FOR LSZ121-LSZ140-
LSZ141-LSZ142-LSZ143-LSZ144-LSZ145-LSZ146-LSZ147-LSZ148.
LILESHAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DULUTH MN 1117 AM CST WED DEC 6 2006 LSZ121-140>148-162-MNZ010>012-018>021-025-026-033>038-WIZ001>004- 006>009-071330- BAYFIELD TO OAK POINT WI-GRAND PORTAGE TO GRAND MARAIS MN- GRAND MARAIS TO TACONITE HARBOR MN- TACONITE HARBOR TO SILVER BAY HARBOR MN- SILVER BAY HARBOR TO TWO HARBORS MN-TWO HARBORS TO DULUTH MN- DULUTH MN TO PORT WING WI-PORT WING TO SAND ISLAND WI- SAND ISLAND TO BAYFIELD WI-OAK POINT TO SAXON HARBOR WI- OPEN WATERS OF LAKE SUPERIOR WEST OF A LINE FROM SAXON HARBOR WI TO GRAND PORTAGE MN-KOOCHICHING-NORTHERN ST. LOUIS- NORTHERN COOK/NORTHERN LAKE-NORTHERN ITASCA-CENTRAL ST. LOUIS- SOUTHERN LAKE/LAKESHORE-SOUTHERN COOK/LAKESHORE-NORTHERN CASS- SOUTHERN ITASCA-SOUTHERN CASS-CROW WING-NORTHERN AITKIN- SOUTHERN AITKIN-CARLTON/SOUTHERN ST. LOUIS-PINE-DOUGLAS-BAYFIELD- ASHLAND-IRON-BURNETT-WASHBURN-SAWYER-PRICE- 1117 AM CST WED DEC 6 2006 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTHEAST MINNESOTA... NORTHWEST WISCONSIN AND WESTERN LAKE SUPERIOR. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT SIGNIFICANT LAKE EFFECT SNOW IS EXPECTED ALONG THE SNOW BELT REGION OF NORTHWEST WISCONSIN...WHERE A LAKE EFFECT SNOW WARNING HAS BEEN ISSUED FOR THIS AFTERNOON THROUGH THURSDAY AFTERNOON. THE SNOW COMBINED WITH BLUSTERY WINDS WILL ALSO CAUSE AREAS OF BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOW WITH REDUCED VISIBILITIES. PLEASE SEE THE LATEST WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE FOR FURTHER INFORMATION. STRONG NORTHWEST WINDS WILL CREATE HAZARDOUS BOATING CONDITIONS ON THE NEARSHORE WATERS OF WESTERN LAKE SUPERIOR. A SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY IS IN EFFECT TODAY THROUGH THURSDAY NIGHT. PLEASE SEE THE LATEST NEARSHORE MARINE FORECAST FOR FURTHER DETAILS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY THE LAKE EFFECT SNOW WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT THROUGH THURSDAY AFTERNOON FOR BAYFIELD...ASHLAND...AND IRON COUNTIES. TOTAL SNOW ACCUMULATIONS ALONG THE SNOW BELT AND PORTIONS OF THE GOGEBIC RANGE ARE EXPECTED TO REACH 8 TO 12 INCHES. MUCH LOWER ACCUMULATIONS OF 1 TO 3 INCHES ARE EXPECTED ELSEWHERE IN THE AFOREMENTIONED COUNTIES. PLEASE SEE THE LATEST WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE FOR FURTHER INFORMATION. A SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR THE NEARSHORE WATERS OF WESTERN LAKE SUPERIOR THROUGH THURSDAY NIGHT. PLEASE SEE THE LATEST NEARSHORE MARINE FORECAST FOR FURTHER DETAILS. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SNOWFALL SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT SIGNIFICANT SNOW ACCUMULATIONS AND TOTALS TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE VIA PHONE AND/OR E-SPOTTER. LILES
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
2 lake-effect snow. Local standard time, as filed.
Five to 8 inches of snow fell from Highbridge, eastward to the Iron County border.
Snow totals ranged from 3.5 inches in Saxon to 11.5 inches in the higher terrain in Gile. Elsewhere around the Gogebic range, totals were generally in the 6 inch range.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Wisconsin in 2006Every state in 2006This day in weather historyWarnings in Wisconsin, December 2006
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: 8090, 8091.