Snow fell across northwest Wisconsin as weak low pressure over northwest Iowa early on the 3rd moved to the Green Bay area early on December 4th. Snow spread into northwest Wisconsin about 430 PM on December 3rd, then ended around daybreak on December 4th.
Every event with a place to put it; 5 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
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.
Snow fell across northwest Wisconsin as weak low pressure over northwest Iowa early on the 3rd moved to the Green Bay area early on December 4th. Snow spread into northwest Wisconsin about 430 PM on December 3rd, then ended around daybreak on December 4th. Snowfall amounts ranged from 3 to 6 inches across northwest Wisconsin, south of a Minong to Ashland line. Lake Superior contributed moisture to areas east and south of Bayfield Peninsula. Snowfalls totaled 7 to 10 inches across Iron County, with snowfalls of 5 to 7 inches throughout surrounding counties.
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 3, 3:10 PM CST, 50 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DULUTH MN
310 PM CST SAT DEC 3 2011
.MARINE...CANCELLED SCA FROM TACONITE HARBOR TO TWO HARBORS.
&&
.PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 245 PM CST SAT DEC 3 2011/
SHORT TERM...THIS AFTERNOON THROUGH SUNDAY NIGHT...
A FAST MOVING LOW...NOW OVER KANSAS CITY...WILL REACH UPPER
MICHIGAN EARLY SUNDAY MORNING. THE SPEED OF THE LOW WILL RESULT IN
RAPID BAROCLINIC CHANGES OVER A NARROW WIDTH...WITH SUBSTANTIAL
PRECIPITATION RATES OVER A NARROW PATH. A SLOWER MOVING STORM
WOULD WIND UP WITH SIMILAR STORM TOTALS...OVER A LONGER PERIOD OF
TIME AND OVER A WIDER PATH. THE LAKE IS WARM...BUT LOW LEVEL FLOW
BEHIND THIS LOW WILL HAVE LARGE DIRECTIONAL SHEAR...MAKING IT
DIFFICULT FOR SUBSTANTIAL SNOW SHOWERS TO DEVELOP OVER THE LAKE.
THE LOW LEVEL FLOW WILL BACK...BECOMING ALONG SHORE OR OFFSHORE
LATE SUNDAY. BOTH OF THESE FACTORS WILL MITIGATE LAKE EFFECT
SHOWERS ALONG THE COASTAL COUNTIES OF NORTHWEST WISCONSIN LATE
SUNDAY AND SUNDAY EVENING. THE LEADING EDGE OF SUBSTANTIAL COLD
ADVECTION...FROM CENTRAL CANADA...WILL BE DRAWN SOUTHWARD BY THE
DEPARTING LOW...RESULTING IN CLOUDS AND POSSIBLY FLURRIES...WITH
A MODERATING EFFECT ON OVERNIGHT TEMPERATURES SUNDAY NIGHT. DEEP
COLD AIR WILL FLOW INTO OUR AREA BEHIND THESE CLOUDS.
LONG TERM...MONDAY THROUGH FRIDAY...
WELL PHASED NRN AND SRN BRANCH OF WESTERLIES STRETCHES FROM NRN
PLAINS INTO SWRN CONUS MON...TRANSLATING EAST INTO CTRL CONUS
TUESDAY. UNDERNEATH...LARGE SFC HIGH WILL KEEP WX PATTERN VERY QUIET
AND DRY. EXCEPTION WILL BE ALONG ERN FRINGE OF CWA WHERE RESIDUAL
CROSS LAKE FLOW...ALBEIT WEAK...SHOULD KEEP SOME LOW POPS IN
VICINITY. BY LATE TUES...NRN BRANCH BECOMES DOMINANT AS IT COLLAPSES
SOUTHWARD. THIS WILL BRING A WARM ADVECTION REGIME ACROSS THE REGION
LATE TUESDAY WITH A SFC BDRY EARLY WED. POPS/QPF SHOULD BE FAIRLY
LIMITED WITH THIS SYSTEM GIVEN ITS FCST SPEED/FORCING WITHIN A
RELATIVELY DRY ENVIRONMENT. FROM MIDWEEK THROUGH FRIDAY BDRY LYR
COLD AIR IS REINFORCED AS UPPER TROF AMPLIFIES AND HEIGHTS LOWER.
SNOW SHOWERS POSSIBLE ACROSS NRN MN ZONES AND SNOWBELTS OF WISCONSIN
DURING LATTER PART OF WEEK AS COLD AIR ADVECTION SQUEEZES OUT WHAT
MOISTURE IS AVAILABLE. EC/GEM/GFS DIFFER BY LATE WEEK ON WHERE UPPER
TROF AXIS IS LOCATED WITH EC FARTHEST WEST...GFS FARTHEST EAST. THIS
HAS MAJOR RAMIFICATIONS ON SFC PRESS PATTERN AS EC DEVELOPS YET
ANOTHER SRN PLAINS WAVE MOVING TOWARD GT LAKES BY WEEKEND. GFS HAS A
SPRAWLING SFC HIGH FROM THE ROCKIES TO THE EAST COAST.
AVIATION...18Z TAF ISSUANCE...
SECONDARY COLD FRONT WILL MOVE INTO NWRN CWA LATE THIS AFTN AS SFC
LOW MOVES FROM CTRL PLAINS INTO ERN WISC BY SUNDAY. MAIN AREA OF
POOR FLIGHT CONDITIONS IS KHYR WHERE HIGHER PROBABILITY OF
IFR/LIFR WILL OCCUR AFTER 2Z THIS EVENING. IMPROVEMENT AT KHYR
EXPECTED AFTER 12Z AS CLGS IMPROVE. ELSEWHERE...TRANSITION FROM VFR
TO MVFR LATE TODAY AND TONIGHT AS CLOUDS LOWER IN ASSOCIATION WITH
POST FRONTAL SATURATION. USED NAM12 COND PRESS DEFICITS TO FCST
MOVEMENT/TIMING OF LOWER CEILINGS.
&&
.POINT TEMPS/POPS...
DLH 19 25 14 20 / 0 0 20 10
INL 7 19 2 13 / 0 0 20 10
BRD 14 25 12 20 / 0 0 20 10
HYR 24 29 14 24 / 90 20 20 10
ASX 25 30 14 25 / 90 60 50 20
&&
.DLH WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
MN...NONE.
WI...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY UNTIL 6 AM CST SUNDAY FOR WIZ007>009.
WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY UNTIL NOON CST SUNDAY FOR WIZ002>004.
LS...SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY UNTIL 10 PM CST THIS EVENING FOR LSZ140-141.
&&HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DULUTH MN 1017 AM CST SAT DEC 3 2011 MNZ010>012-018>021-025-026-033>038-WIZ001>004-006>009-041030- 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- 1017 AM CST SAT DEC 3 2011 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTHEAST MINNESOTA AND NORTHWEST WISCONSIN. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT SNOW WILL SPREAD INTO NORTHWEST WISCONSIN LATE TODAY AND CONTINUE TONIGHT. ACCUMULATIONS WILL BE LIKELY EAST OF A PORT WING TO SHELL LAKE LINE....WITH HIGHEST AMOUNTS EXPECTED ACROSS PRICE AND IRON COUNTIES. PLEASE REFER TO THE LATEST WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY SNOW WILL CONTINUE ACROSS THE ELEVATED TERRAIN OF IRON AND ASHLAND COUNTIES WISCONSIN SUNDAY. ADDITIONAL ACCUMULATION IS POSSIBLE. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTERS AND SNOWFALL OBSERVERS ARE URGED TO REPORT SNOWFALL AMOUNTS TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN DULUTH. LSZ121-140>148-041030- 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- 1017 AM CST SAT DEC 3 2011 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR THE NEARSHORE WATERS OF WESTERN LAKE SUPERIOR. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT GUSTY SOUTHWEST WINDS WILL CONTINUE TO GENERATE HAZARDOUS WAVES OVER SOME OF THE NEARSHORE WATERS. PLEASE REFER TO THE LATEST MARINE WEATHER MESSAGE FOR THE LATEST INFORMATION. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. MORE INFORMATION MAY BE OBTAINED AT THE FOLLOWING WEB ADDRESS: HTTP://WWW.WEATHER.GOV/DULUTH (ALL LOWER CASE)
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
5 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.
The greatest snowfall was 6.50 inches at Clam Lake.
More than 6 inches of snow fell across most of Iron County. The greatest reported snowfall was 9.6 inches seven miles east of Gurney.
The greatest snowfall was 7.50 inches near Butternut.
The greatest snowfall was 7.00 inches at Sarona.
The greatest snowfall was 6.50 inches 19 miles southwest of Mellen.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Wisconsin in 2011Every state in 2011This day in weather historyWarnings in Wisconsin, December 2011
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: 355070, 355071, 355067, 355068, 355069.