Winter Storm in Wisconsin, February 5 to 6, 2008

Name: Winter Storm in Wisconsin, February 5 to 6, 2008
Start: 2008-02-05T18:00
End: 2008-02-06T21:00
Location: Wisconsin

February 5 to 6, 2008 · NWS MKX · 4 events in 4 counties and zones

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 4 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: 4

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.

A long-duration, massive winter storm with near blizzard conditions pounded southern Wisconsin with snow accumulations of 10 to 21 inches, thundersnow, occasional northerly wind gusts to 35 mph, and blowing and drifting snow that reduced visibilities to occasionally below 1/4 mile. Some sleet was mixed in with the snow southeast of Interstate-43. An isolated wind gust to 52 knots (60 mph) was measured at the Janesville Aiport in Rock County. Drifts to 4 to 5 feet were reported. Arguably, this was the worst storm on such a widespread basis since the memorable storms of the late 1970s. The storm started overnight February 5th, and by daybreak February 6th accumulations ranged from 2 to 3 inches from the Madison area to Milwaukee on up to 5 to 7 inches near the Illinois border. Snow rates eased up and visibilities improved between about 0500 CST and 0900 CST. However, after about 0900 CST the main energy of the storm moved north out of Illinois, and it snowed at rates of 1 to 2 inches per hour through about 1800 CST while the winds increased in strength. After about 1800 CST the intensity of the snowfall gradually diminished from west to east across southern Wisconsin.

Some roads became impassable due to vehciles getting stuck in deep snow drifts on inclines. A major traffice backup occurred on Interstate 39/90 in the westbound lanes just south of where STH 51 intersects the Interstate in Dane County due to semi-tractor trailers jackknifing and blocking traffic on a hill. The backup started around 1030 CST to 1100 CST on February 6th and ended at daybreak on the 7th. This backup would eventually build south to near Janesville as stopped vehicles became drifted in. As many as 552 semi-trailers and 295 personal vehicles were involved in this backup for up to 10 to 20 hours. Additionally, a large backup occurred in the eastbound lanes in the some general area, involving 567 semi-trailers and 134 personal vehicles. Eighteen to 21 inches of snow fell in the area of the backup along with some gusts to 35 to 43 knots (40 to 50 mph). About 5 miles south of Sheboygan, the northbound lanes on Interstate-43 were closed due to jack-knifed semitrailer trucks. Milwaukee Mithchell Field shut down airline traffic at about 1300 CST due to near-blizzard conditions.

There was one fatality (indirectly-related) just south of Milwaukee Mitchell Field around 0830 CST when the driver lost control of their vehicle and slid into a semi. Media reports indicated that there were many vehicle accidents, but traffic counts indicated that a number of people stayed home rather than fight the poor weather and road conditions. It was noted that some snow-plow crews had to stop plowing at times due the heavy snow and winds. Needless to say, numerous civic functions, schools, and businesses were closed on February 6th and 7th.

Two-day snowfall totals include: 21 at Orfordville and 9WNW Beloit; 20.6 at Delavan; 20.4 at Ft. Atkinson; 20.1 at 2N Saukville; 20 at Beloit, Jackson, and 1E Evansville; 19.5 at Germantown; 18.4 at Town of Mount Pleasant; 18 at 2NE Glendale and Stoughton; 17.8 at Brodhead; 17.3 at West Allis; 17.1 at Beaver Dam/Town of Westford; 17.0 at Jefferson, Brown Deer North, 1N Sun Prairie, Lake Mills, 2 NNE Downtown Milwaukee, and Rome; 16.5 at Deerfield, Greenfield, and 1N Beaver Dam; 16.4 at 1NNE Cedarburg, 16.3 at the Milwaukee/Sullivan WFO about 3.8 miles southeast of Sullivan and 2SE Waukesha; 16.2 at 1E Cedarburg/Lakefield; 16 at Brookfield, 4NNE Sun Prairie, 4S Waukesha, Janesville, Johnson Creek, 1S Mt. Horeb, 2SW West Bend, Alleton, and 2N Saukville; 15.5 at Arygle, Kenosha, 0.4W State Fair Park, and Hales Corner/Whitnall Park; 15.1 at Wind Point, 15 at 1NNE Milwaukee, Afton, Union Grove, 1S Rochester, Watertown, Cambridge, 3W Thiensville, and 1SW Palmrya; 14.8 at Paddock Lake, 14.7 at Big Bend and Random Lake; 14.6 at 3SE Portage, 14.5 at 3SE Palmyra, an estimated 14 to 15 over southeastern Iowa County, 14 at Juneau, Milton, Sheboygan, Pell Lake, and 6NW Kenosha, 13.8 at 0.5W Delafield; 13.4 at Madison Truax Field, 12.9 at Milwaukee Mitchell Field, 12.5 at Howards Grove, 12.4 at Cottage Grove, 12.1 at Oconomowoc, 10 at 5W Cambellsport/Ashford; 9.5 at Sauk City, around 8 in extreme southeast Green Lake County, and 6 to 7 inches across southern Marquette County.

Madison Truax Field measured 11.9 of snow on the calendar day of February 6th, breaking the old daily record of 5.3 set back in 1911. The 13.3 of snow that Madison picked up for the 24-hour period ending 1800 CST February 6th was the 2nd highest total ever (17.3 on December 3, 1990 is the greatest). Milwuakee Mitchell Field measured 11.6 on the calendar day of February 6th, breaking the old daily record of 8.3 set back in 1974.

A few quotes from spotters and the general public include: Woke up to a near blizzard, the scary part is the over-burden of snow on roofs - can they support tons of snow?, Perfect storm closes regional malls, Snow brings county to a standstill.

Thanks to the snow that fell in the February 5-6th winter storm/near blizzard, many location in south-central and southeast Wisconsin eventually broke their all-time winter snowfall records.

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 Milwaukee, WI wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Feb 5, 3:10 PM CST, 2 hours 50 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Feb 5, 3:10 PM CST, 2 hours 50 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MILWAUKEE/SULLIVAN WI
310 PM CST TUE FEB 5 2008

.DISCUSSION...FORECAST FOCUS ON SEVERE SNOWSTORM FOR TONIGHT INTO
WEDNESDAY.

.SHORT TERM...NGM/NAM/SREF/GFS/WRF20/ECMWF HI-RES PROGS CONTINUE
IN EXCELLENT AGREEMENT WITH TREND OF APPROACHING SEVERE WINTER
STORM. TIMING FOR ONGOING WARNING LOOKS ON THE MONEY. COMBINATION
OF INFLUX OF ADDITIONAL MOISTURE FROM LATEST PROG RUNS AND SLIDING
SCALE OF SNOW RATIOS FROM THE 8:1 TO 10:1 RANGE AT STORM/S
BEGINNING TO EVENTUALLY 13:1 TOWARD STORM/S END GIVES CONFIDENCE
TO RAISE OVERALL SNOWFALL AMOUNTS A FEW INCHES ACROSS CWA. THE 14
TO 18 INCHES FORECAST FOR SOUTHEAST WISCONSIN WILL BE NEAR RECORD
FOR A 24 HOUR AMOUNT. IN ADDITION...EVALUATION OF HI RES WRF-G
PROG POINTS TO POTENTIAL FOR CONVECTION TO OCCUR LATER TONIGHT
ACROSS SOUTHEAST PORTIONS OF CWA. WITH INTRODUCTION OF CONVECTION
INTO FORECAST HAVE INDICATED THAT LOCAL SNOWFALL TOTALS UP TO 20
INCHES POSSIBLE OVER PORTIONS OF SOUTHEAST WISCONSIN. ALSO
EVALUATION OF LAKE SNOW ENHANCEMENT FLOW CHART POINTS TO LIGHT TO
MODERATE SNOW AMOUNTS BE ADDED TO LAKE SHORE COUNTIES. THUS HAVE
INCREASED FINAL TOTAL SNOW AMOUNTS ESPECIALLY ALONG SHEBOYGAN AND
OZAUKEE COUNTIES. HAVE ALSO ADDED NEAR BLIZZARD WORDING FOR
LAKE SHORE COUNTIES FROM AFTER MIDNIGHT TONIGHT THROUGH WEDNESDAY
MORNING. BUFKIT AND 925 MILLIBAR LOW LEVEL WINDS APPROACHING 40
KNOTS FROM THE NORTHEAST DURING HEIGHT OF STORM. STORM HAS TAPPED
GULF OF MEXICO MOISTURE WITH EXPECTED QPF VALUES NOW EXPECTED TO
BE JUST OVER 1 INCH OF LIQUID BY THE TIME THE STORMS EXITS AREA
WEDNESDAY NIGHT. PROGS HAVE SHIFTED PATH OF STORM SLIGHTLY TO
NORTHWEST BUT NOT ENOUGH TO CHANGE AXIS OF EXPECTED HEAVY SNOW.
MODELS STILL SHOWING VERY FAVORABLE DENDRITE BAND AND CROSS HAIRS
CONFIGURATION SETS UP ALONG AXIS FROM LAFAYETTE COUNTY NORTHEAST
TO SHEBOYGAN COUNTY DURING HEIGHT OF EXPECTED SNOWFALL FROM 03Z
WEDNESDAY TO 12Z WEDNESDAY. THUS A WIDER THAN NORMAL HEAVY SNOW
BAND IS INDICATED. CRAS PROGGED SATELLITE IR LOOP MAINTAINS
COLDEST CLOUD TOPS OVER CWA DURING THIS TIME PERIOD.

.LONG TERM...STILL LOOKING AT A SHORT BREAK IN THE ACTIVE WEATHER
PATTERN TAKES PLACE WEDNESDAY NIGHT BEFORE ANOTHER WEATHER SYSTEM
ARRIVES ON THURSDAY. PLUNGE OF VERY COLD AIRMASS ALSO EXPECTED
FOR WEEKEND.

&&

.AVIATION...CIGS AND VSBYS EXPECTED TO DROP THIS EVE AS INITIAL
SLUG OF SN WORKS INTO SRN WI. WILL TREND DOWN TO LIFR CIGS WITH
SUSTAINED VLIFR CIGS/VSBYS EXPECTED AS HVY SN EXPECTED FOR MUCH OF
TNGT INTO WED MRNG. NNE WINDS WILL BE GUSTY IN THE 20-30 KNOT RANGE
FOR MUCH OF THIS PERIOD. HIGHER GUSTS PSBL AT KMKE.

.MARINE...WITH STG LOW WINDING UP AND PASSING TO OUR SOUTH...NNE
WINDS WILL EASILY BE AT SCA LEVELS INTO WED WITH DIMINISHING TREND
FOR WED NGT. HIGH WAVES EXPECTED WITH THE FAVORABLE NNE FETCH.
WILL GO WITH A GALE WARNING FOR LATER TONIGHT INTO WEDNESDAY.

&&

.MKX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
WI...WINTER STORM WARNING FROM 6 PM THIS EVENING TO 3 PM CST
     WEDNESDAY FOR WIZ046-047-051-052-056>060-062>072.

LM...SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY UNTIL 3 AM CST THURSDAY FOR LMZ643>646.

&&

SHORT/LONG TERM...17
AVIATION/MARINE...10

Hazardous weather outlook, Feb 5, 3:30 PM CST, 2 hours 30 minutes before

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MILWAUKEE/SULLIVAN WI
330 PM CST TUE FEB 5 2008

WIZ046-047-051-052-056>060-062>072-061045-
MARQUETTE-GREEN LAKE-FOND DU LAC-SHEBOYGAN-SAUK-COLUMBIA-DODGE-
WASHINGTON-OZAUKEE-IOWA-DANE-JEFFERSON-WAUKESHA-MILWAUKEE-
LAFAYETTE-GREEN-ROCK-WALWORTH-RACINE-KENOSHA-
330 PM CST TUE FEB 5 2008

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF EAST CENTRAL
WISCONSIN...SOUTH CENTRAL WISCONSIN AND SOUTHEAST WISCONSIN.

.DAY ONE...TONIGHT

A MAJOR WINTER STORM WILL HIT THE AREA TONIGHT. CONDITIONS WILL
DETERIORATE RAPIDLY...PREPARE FOR HAZARDOUS WINTER WEATHER. SEE THE
LATEST WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE FOR ALL OF THE DETAILS.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY

THE MAJOR WINTER STORM WILL CONTINUE TO POUND SOUTHERN WISCONSIN
WEDNESDAY. PREPARE FOR VERY TREACHEROUS CONDITIONS. SEE THE LATEST
WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE FOR ALL OF THE DETAILS.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED...BUT SNOWFALL REPORTS WOULD
BE APPRECIATED.

LMZ643>646-061045-
SHEBOYGAN TO PORT WASHINGTON WI-
PORT WASHINGTON TO NORTH POINT LIGHT WI-
NORTH POINT LIGHT TO WIND POINT WI-
WIND POINT WI TO WINTHROP HARBOR IL-
330 PM CST TUE FEB 5 2008

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF LAKE MICHIGAN.

.DAY ONE...TONIGHT

A SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY IS IN EFFECT UNTIL 3 AM. A GALE WARNING KICKS
IN AT 3 AM.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY

THE GALE WARNING WILL CONTINUE UNTIL 6 PM ON WEDNESDAY.

SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY CONDITIONS MAY BE REACHED AGAIN ON SATURDAY
INTO SUNDAY.

COLLAR
WEATHER.GOV/MKX
WEATHER.GOV/MKX/SNOWRPT.PHP /FOR REPORTING SNOW AMOUNTS/

In the hours before

Local storm report, Feb 5, 4:54 PM CST, 1 hour 6 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MILWAUKEE/SULLIVAN WI
454 PM CST TUE FEB 05 2008

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0454 PM     SNOW             3 SE SULLIVAN           42.98N 88.55W
02/05/2008  M0.4 INCH        JEFFERSON          WI   OFFICIAL NWS OBS

&&

KUHLMAN

Local storm report, Feb 5, 5:07 PM CST, 53 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MILWAUKEE/SULLIVAN WI
507 PM CST TUE FEB 05 2008

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0500 PM     SNOW             5 SW MADISON CAPITOL SQ 43.03N 89.45W
02/05/2008  M0.4 INCH        DANE               WI   TRAINED SPOTTER

&&

KUHLMAN

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

4 winter storm. Local standard time, as filed.

Winter Storm, Marquette

When: February 5, 6:00 PM CST to February 6, 9:00 PM CST
Where: Marquette forecast zone
Reported by: Trained Spotter
Coordinates: 43.820, -89.399 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Green Lake

When: February 5, 6:00 PM CST to February 6, 9:00 PM CST
Where: Green Lake forecast zone
Reported by: Trained Spotter
Coordinates: 43.800, -89.045 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Sauk

When: February 5, 6:00 PM CST to February 6, 9:00 PM CST
Where: Sauk forecast zone
Reported by: Trained Spotter
Coordinates: 43.427, -89.948 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Columbia

When: February 5, 6:00 PM CST to February 6, 9:00 PM CST
Where: Columbia forecast zone
Reported by: Trained Spotter
Coordinates: 43.467, -89.334 (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 2008 Every state in 2008 This day in weather history Warnings in Wisconsin, February 2008

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: 81892, 83148, 83149, 83150.