Winter Weather in Wisconsin, February 26 to 27, 2009

Name: Winter Weather in Wisconsin, February 26 to 27, 2009
Start: 2009-02-26T22:00
End: 2009-02-27T03:00
Location: Wisconsin

February 26 to 27, 2009 · NWS MKX · 20 events in 20 counties and zones

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 20 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: 1
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 20

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 mix of snow, freezing rain, sleet, and some rain fell across South-central and Southeast Wisconsin during the overnight hours. Once temperatures dropped from the 32 to 35 degree range down to the 30 to 32 range, a glazing of ice up to 1/8 inch developed on untreated roads surfaces. Media reports indicated that hundreds of vehicle accidents and slide-offs occurred. Vehicle crash responders were overwhelmed and could not immediately respond to some of the accidents. Just after daybreak in the Civil Town of Oakland, southeast of Lake Mills in western Jefferson County, a vehicle slid into another vehicle, resulting in 1 fatality and 1 critical injury (both indirectly-related). West of Lake Mills, a hilly portion of Interstate-94 iced up about 2330CST February 26th, completely preventing west-bound vehicles from making it up the grade. Synoptically, a vigorous low pressure tracked out of the Nebraska area through Northern Illinois and then to the Lake Huron area. Prior to the freezing rain and glazing of road surfaces, showers and thunderstorms left rainfall amounts of around an inch along with some pea-size hail. At a location 5 SW Downtown Madison, an observer measured 1.31 inches of rain.

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 26, 3:10 PM CST, 6 hours 50 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Feb 26, 3:10 PM CST, 6 hours 50 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MILWAUKEE/SULLIVAN WI
310 PM CST THU FEB 26 2009

.SHORT TERM...

WILL DOWNGRADE WARNINGS TO ADVISORIES.

12Z NAM/GFS FAIRLY SIMILAR WITH SURFACE LOW TRACKING ACROSS SOUTHERN
LAKE MICHIGAN THIS EVENING. WARNING CRITERIA SNOW QUESTIONABLE IN
THE FAR NORTHERN TIER OF COUNTIES WITH 850 MB WARM AIR ADVECTION.
HOWEVER GFS A BIT COOLER ACROSS MARQUETTE GREEN LAKE AND NORTHWEST
FOND DU LAC COUNTIES. SOME CONVECTIVE SNOW IN THE HEAVIER PRECIP
INTO EARLY EVENING...BUT MAINLY RAIN IN LIGHTER PRECIP. INITIAL
EVAPORATIVE COOLING HAS NOW TAKEN PLACE WITH SURFACE TEMPS DROPPING
A BIT. EXPECT THEM TO INCREASE AGAIN EARLY...ESPECIALLY FAR
SOUTHEAST. MAIN THREAT IN ADVISORY AREA WOULD ALSO BE A SNOW/RAIN
AND HAIL/SLEET MIX INITIALLY...THEN THE SWITCHOVER LATER THIS
EVENING WITH STRONG COLD AIR ADVECTION ON BACK SIDE OF SURFACE LOW.

MAIN FREEZING RAIN THREAT WOULD BE BRIEF ON BACKSIDE AS COLD AIR
MOVES IN BEHIND THE SURFACE LOW. OTHER THAN THE FAR NORTHWEST
AREAS...NAM AND GFS SOUNDINGS HAVE THE BULK OF THE PRECIPITATION
OVER BY THE TIME SOUNDINGS SHOW SNOW POTENTIAL. STRONG NORTH TO
NORTHWEST SURFACE WINDS LATE TONIGHT.

COLD HIGH CENTERED OVER THE NORTHERN PLAINS TO JUST NORTH OF LAKE
SUPERIOR FRIDAY. THIS BRINGS POTENTIAL OF NORTHEAST FLOW OFF LAKE
MICHIGAN FRIDAY NIGHT. EXPECT SOME LAKE CLOUDS. INVERSIONS JUST
BELOW 3 THSD FT SO ANY LAKE EFFECT SNOW WOULD BE MAINLY FLURRIES.

NEXT SHORTWAVE DIVES SOUTHEAST ACROSS CENTRAL PLAINS AND MID
MISSISSIPPI VALLEY BUT MAIN PRECIP WELL WEST AND SOUTHWEST ON
FRIDAY.

NORTHWEST FLOW SUNDAY INTO MONDAY AS UPPER RIDGE BUILDS FROM
MEXICO TO MID MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. ONE SHORTWAVE TRACKS ACROSS
SOUTHERN CANADA...BUT PRECIP FROM THIS SHOULD BE TO THE NORTH.

.LONG TERM...
ECMWF KEEPS UPPER RIDGE INTO WISCONSIN TUESDAY...WITH GFS GOING
MORE ZONAL.

ECMWF IS QUICKER WITH NEXT TROUGH TO THE WEST...BRINGING IT INTO
ILLINOIS BY THURSDAY...WITH A WEAKER AND SOMEWHAT SLOWER SHORTWAVE
ON GFS. LITTLE CONFIDENCE IN WHICH WILL BE CORRECT...SO WENT WITH
A QUICKER BUT WEAKER SHORTWAVE.

&&

.AVIATION...
STRONG LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM TO PASS SOUTH OF WISCONSIN
THIS EVENING. RAIN WILL CONTINUE INTO THE EVENING WITH IFR
CONDITIONS LASTING INTO THE FIRST PART OF TONIGHT. SCATTERED
ELEVATED THUNDERSTORMS EARLY THIS EVENING. LIFR CONDITIONS
POSSIBLE IN THE HEAVIEST SHOWERS AND ALONG THE COAST WHERE
CONDITIONS COULD GET FOGGY AT TIMES. HEAVIEST PCPN PERIOD IS
ROUGHLY UNTIL 03Z. COULD SEE A MIX WITH SNOW AFTER 03Z AND
EVENTUALLY ALL SNOW BRIEFLY EARLY TONIGHT. ANY ACCUMULATIONS ARE
EXPECTED TO BE ON THE LIGHT SIDE. PRECIPITATION SHOULD WIND DOWN
AFTER 06Z WITH IMPROVING CONDITIONS WEST TO EAST.

.MARINE...GALE WARNING POSTED FOR TONIGHT THROUGH FRIDAY MORNING.
INCREASING EAST WINDS TURN NORTHEAST THEN NORTH OVERNIGHT. WIND
GUSTS TO 35-40KTS POSSIBLE. AS THE LOW PULLS AWAY QUICKLY ON FRIDAY
WINDS WILL RELAX BY AFTERNOON...BUT STILL REMAIN BREEZY. A SMALL
CRAFT ADVISORY MAY BE NEEDED DURING THE DAY FRIDAY.

&&

.MKX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
WI...FLOOD WATCH THROUGH LATE TONIGHT FOR WIZ065-066-069>072.

     WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY UNTIL MIDNIGHT CST TONIGHT FOR WIZ046-
     047-051-052-056>059-062.

LM...GALE WARNING FROM 9 PM THIS EVENING TO NOON CST FRIDAY FOR
     LMZ643>646.

&&

SHORT/LONG TERM...06/HENTZ
AVIATION/MARINE...07

Hazardous weather outlook, Feb 26, 5:18 PM CST, 4 hours 42 minutes before

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The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

20 winter weather. Local standard time, as filed.

Winter Weather, Marquette

When: February 26, 10:00 PM CST to February 27, 3:00 AM CST
Where: Marquette forecast zone
Reported by: COOP Observer
Coordinates: 43.820, -89.399 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Weather, Green Lake

When: February 26, 10:00 PM CST to February 27, 3:00 AM CST
Where: Green Lake forecast zone
Reported by: COOP Observer
Coordinates: 43.800, -89.045 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Weather, Fond du Lac

When: February 26, 10:00 PM CST to February 27, 3:00 AM CST
Where: Fond du Lac forecast zone
Reported by: COOP Observer
Coordinates: 43.754, -88.488 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Weather, Sheboygan

When: February 26, 10:00 PM CST to February 27, 3:00 AM CST
Where: Sheboygan forecast zone
Reported by: COOP Observer
Coordinates: 43.756, -87.800 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Weather, Sauk

When: February 26, 10:00 PM CST to February 27, 3:00 AM CST
Where: Sauk forecast zone
Reported by: COOP Observer
Coordinates: 43.427, -89.948 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Weather, Columbia

When: February 26, 10:00 PM CST to February 27, 3:00 AM CST
Where: Columbia forecast zone
Reported by: COOP Observer
Coordinates: 43.467, -89.334 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Weather, Dodge

When: February 26, 10:00 PM CST to February 27, 3:00 AM CST
Where: Dodge forecast zone
Reported by: COOP Observer
Coordinates: 43.416, -88.707 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Weather, Washington

When: February 26, 10:00 PM CST to February 27, 3:00 AM CST
Where: Washington forecast zone
Reported by: COOP Observer
Coordinates: 43.369, -88.231 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Weather, Ozaukee

When: February 26, 10:00 PM CST to February 27, 3:00 AM CST
Where: Ozaukee forecast zone
Reported by: COOP Observer
Coordinates: 43.403, -87.891 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Weather, Iowa

When: February 26, 10:00 PM CST to February 27, 3:00 AM CST
Where: Iowa forecast zone
Reported by: COOP Observer
Coordinates: 43.001, -90.135 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Weather, Dane

When: February 26, 10:00 PM CST to February 27, 3:00 AM CST
Where: Dane forecast zone
Reported by: COOP Observer
Coordinates: 43.067, -89.418 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Weather, Jefferson

When: February 26, 10:00 PM CST to February 27, 3:00 AM CST
Where: Jefferson forecast zone
Deaths: 0 direct, 1 indirect
Reported by: COOP Observer
Coordinates: 43.021, -88.776 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Weather, Waukesha

When: February 26, 10:00 PM CST to February 27, 3:00 AM CST
Where: Waukesha forecast zone
Reported by: COOP Observer
Coordinates: 43.018, -88.304 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Weather, Milwaukee

When: February 26, 10:00 PM CST to February 27, 3:00 AM CST
Where: Milwaukee forecast zone
Reported by: COOP Observer
Coordinates: 43.022, -87.929 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Weather, Lafayette

When: February 26, 10:00 PM CST to February 27, 3:00 AM CST
Where: Lafayette forecast zone
Reported by: COOP Observer
Coordinates: 42.661, -90.132 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Weather, Green

When: February 26, 10:00 PM CST to February 27, 3:00 AM CST
Where: Green forecast zone
Reported by: COOP Observer
Coordinates: 42.680, -89.602 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Weather, Rock

When: February 26, 10:00 PM CST to February 27, 3:00 AM CST
Where: Rock forecast zone
Reported by: COOP Observer
Coordinates: 42.671, -89.072 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Weather, Walworth

When: February 26, 10:00 PM CST to February 27, 3:00 AM CST
Where: Walworth forecast zone
Reported by: COOP Observer
Coordinates: 42.669, -88.542 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Weather, Racine

When: February 26, 10:00 PM CST to February 27, 3:00 AM CST
Where: Racine forecast zone
Reported by: COOP Observer
Coordinates: 42.730, -87.812 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Weather, Kenosha

When: February 26, 10:00 PM CST to February 27, 3:00 AM CST
Where: Kenosha forecast zone
Reported by: COOP Observer
Coordinates: 42.573, -87.840 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

The people who died

As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.

Event	Date	Age	Sex	Where	Kind
Winter Weather, Jefferson	2009-02-27	76	Female	Vehicle/Towed Trailer	Indirect

What these are

Winter Weather: Snow, sleet or freezing rain below warning levels that still caused disruption, damage or casualties.

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

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Wisconsin in 2009 Every state in 2009 This day in weather history Warnings in Wisconsin, February 2009

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 2026-10-01. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 155991, 155992, 155993, 155994, 155995, 155996, 155997, 155998, 155999, 156000, 156001, 156002, 156003, 156004, 156005, 156006, 156007, 156008, 156009, 156010.