Drought in Wisconsin, March 1 to 31, 2010

Name: Drought in Wisconsin, March 1 to 31, 2010
Start: 2010-03-01T00:00
End: 2010-03-31T23:59
Location: Wisconsin

March 1 to 31, 2010 · NWS DLH · 4 events in 4 counties and zones

Severe (D2) drought conditions persisted through March across an area of northwest Wisconsin. The area encompassed Sawyer, Washburn, southern Ashland, and southern Bayfield counties.

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 DLH wrote it up.

Severe (D2) drought conditions persisted through March across an area of northwest Wisconsin. The area encompassed Sawyer, Washburn, southern Ashland, and southern Bayfield counties. Precipitation for the month was only 25 to 50 percent of normal across northwest Wisconsin.

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 Feb 28, 11:49 PM CST, 11 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Feb 28, 11:49 PM CST, 11 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DULUTH MN
1149 PM CST SUN FEB 28 2010

.AVIATION.../06Z TAF ISSUANCE/

WESTERN TAF LOCATIONS SHOULD REMAIN VFR THRU THE PERIOD. MVFR
VISBYS ARE POSSIBLE AT DLH BEFORE SUNRISE. PATCHY FOG OVER
NORTHWESTERN WISCONSIN HAVE ALREADY DROPPED VISBYS AT HYR TO UNDER
2SM FOR A BRIEF TIME EARLIER THIS EVENING...AND THAT TREND WILL
CONTINUE WITH MVFR VISBYS IN PLACE BEFORE SUNRISE LASTING UNTIL
AROUND 14Z.

&&

.PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 947 PM CST SUN FEB 28 2010/

UPDATE...GRIDDED FORECASTS AND ASSOCIATED TEXT PRODUCTS HAVE JUST
BEEN UPDATED. DROPPED TEMPS A FEW DEGREES IN SPOTS WITH MOSTLY
CLEAR SKIES ACROSS THE CWA. HAVE ALSO ADDED SOME PATCHY FOG...WITH
SOME AREAS NEAR LAKE SUPERIOR EXPERIENCING SOME FOG ALREADY AS OF
9 PM. OTHER THAN THAT...NO OTHER MAJOR CHANGES.

PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 531 PM CST SUN FEB 28 2010/

AVIATION.../0Z TAF ISSUANCE/

MAINLY VFR CONDITIONS THRU THE TAF PERIOD WITH A SLIGHT CHANCE OF
A BRIEF PERIOD OF MVFR CIGS RETURNING EARLY THIS EVENING AT HYR.
WILL MONITOR THE CHANCE OF SOME STRATOCU MOVING IN FROM THE LAKE AT
DLH AROUND SUNRISE BUT NOT ENOUGH CONFIDENCE AT THIS POINT TO PUT
IN A MVFR CIG.

PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 331 PM CST SUN FEB 28 2010/

DISCUSSION...QUIET PATTERN THIS AFTERNOON AS MID LVL TROF PASSES
OVERHEAD FROM ARROWHEAD INTO NWRN WISC. CLOUD FCST ACROSS NWRN
WISC HAS BEEN CHALLENGING AS NE TRAJECTORY FROM SFC/85H WOULD
TYPICALLY MAINTAIN EXTENSIVE STRATUS DECK. HOWEVER PROGRESSION OF
DRY SURGE...AS REFLECTED IN 925/85H DEWPOINTS....HAS ALLOWED
STEADY CLEARING TO OCCUR ACROSS WRN HALF ON WISC ZONES. SNOW HAS
BEEN ALMOST NONEXISTENT UNDER CLOUDS...EVEN OVER ELEVATED TERRAIN.

TONIGHT/TOMORROW...OTHER THAN SOME LIGHT SNOW OR FLURRIES OVER
EXTREME ERN WISC ZONES...FCST REMAINS ON THE TRANQUIL SIDE. SFC
HIGH MOVES EAST THROUGH ONTARIO...WITH ANTICYCLONIC FLOW PUSHING
STEADILY INTO ALL OF NW WISC BY MONDAY AFTERNOON. INSIGNIFICANT
SNOW EXPECTED OVER SNOWBELT AS AIR REMAINS DRY ENOUGH TO KEEP
SATURATION TO A MINIMUM...AND WEAK COLD ADVECTION WILL KEEP ANY
LES FROM DEVELOPING. ELSEWHERE...MOSTLY SUNNY CONDITIONS SHOULD PREVAIL.

MON NIGHT/TUESDAY...AN APPROACHING MID LVL TROF WILL AMPLIFY OVER
ONTARIO AND SWEEP SOME INCREASING MID/HIGH LVL CLOUDS INTO REGION.
MDLS DIFFER ON STRENGTH OF MID LVL FEATURE AND DEEP LAYER MOISTURE
SIGNATURE. EC HAS BEEN TRENDING TOWARDS THE IDEA OF PERHAPS SOME
LIGHT QPF BY TUESDAY AFTERNOON. EC IS STRONGEST WITH MID LVL
SYSTEM...GFS WEAKEST AND MOST PROGRESSIVE... WITH THE CMC IN
BETWEEN. WILL KEEP FCST DRY AS NOT ENOUGH MDL CONSENSUS AT THIS
POINT.

TUES NIGHT/WEDNESDAY...ALL MDLS PROGRESS MID LVL SYSTEM SOUTH OF
REGION. SFC HIGH BUILDS INTO CWA AND FCST REMAINS DRY. TEMPS
REMAIN ABOVE TYPICAL SEASONAL VALUES.

EXTENDED...WEDNESDAY NIGHT THROUGH SUNDAY...
THE CANADIAN GEM GLOBAL HAS BEEN THE MOST CONSISTENT OVER THE
EXTENDED PERIOD THE PAST FEW DAYS AND WILL CONTINUE TO SIDE WITH ITS
SOLUTION. SFC RIDGE LOCKED IN PLACE AS UPPER HIGH DETACHES FROM THE
SOUTHERLY JET STREAM. THIS WILL KEEP ANY LOW PRESSURE/UPPER LOW
DISPLACED WELL TO THE SOUTH.

&&

.POINT TEMPS/POPS...
DLH  13  36  14  38 /  10  10  10  10
INL   4  36   5  34 /  10  10  10  10
BRD   4  38   9  40 /  10  10  10  10
HYR  10  36   6  40 /  10  10  10  10
ASX  18  31  12  37 /  10  10  10  10

&&

.DLH WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
MN...NONE.
WI...NONE.
&&

DAP/KK

Hazardous weather outlook, Feb 28, 2:34 PM CST, 9 hours 26 minutes before

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DULUTH MN
234 PM CST SUN FEB 28 2010

MNZ010>012-018>021-025-026-033>038-WIZ001>004-006>009-011130-
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-
234 PM CST SUN FEB 28 2010

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTHEAST MINNESOTA AND
NORTHWEST WISCONSIN.

.DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT

NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY

NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SKYWARN SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED THIS AFTERNOON OR
TONIGHT.

CANNON

MORE INFORMATION MAY BE OBTAINED AT THE FOLLOWING WEB ADDRESS:
HTTP://WWW.WEATHER.GOV/DULUTH (ALL LOWER CASE)

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

4 drought. Local standard time, as filed.

Drought, Bayfield

When: March 1, 12:00 AM CST to March 31, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Bayfield forecast zone
Reported by: Other Federal Agency
Coordinates: 46.635, -91.181 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Drought, Sawyer

When: March 1, 12:00 AM CST to March 31, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Sawyer forecast zone
Reported by: Other Federal Agency
Coordinates: 45.880, -91.145 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Drought, Washburn

When: March 1, 12:00 AM CST to March 31, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Washburn forecast zone
Reported by: Other Federal Agency
Coordinates: 45.899, -91.791 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Drought, Ashland

When: March 1, 12:00 AM CST to March 31, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Ashland forecast zone
Reported by: Other Federal Agency
Coordinates: 46.510, -90.720 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Drought: A drought reaching severe (D2) or worse on the US Drought Monitor, or with notable impacts.

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

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Wisconsin in 2010 Every state in 2010 This day in weather history Warnings in Wisconsin, March 2010

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: 220189, 220190, 220191, 220192.