Heavy Snow in Wisconsin, January 11 to 13, 2012

Name: Heavy Snow in Wisconsin, January 11 to 13, 2012
Start: 2012-01-11T19:00
End: 2012-01-13T21:00
Location: Wisconsin

January 11 to 13, 2012 · NWS DLH · 3 events in 3 counties and zones

Lake effect snow caused nearly three feet of snow to fall over the snow-belt region of Iron County, WI. The snow began early in the evening of January 11th and ended in the evening of January 13th.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 3 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: 3

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.

Lake effect snow caused nearly three feet of snow to fall over the snow-belt region of Iron County, WI. The snow began early in the evening of January 11th and ended in the evening of January 13th. Specific snowfalls include Gile with 34 inches, Saxon with 20 inches, Hurley with 19 inches and 13 inches of snow 2 miles north of Mellen.

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 Jan 11, 3:07 PM CST, 3 hours 53 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jan 11, 3:07 PM CST, 3 hours 53 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DULUTH MN
307 PM CST WED JAN 11 2012

.SHORT TERM...SHORT TERM FOCUS IS ON HEADLINES. SFC COLD FRONT HAS
EXITED THE FA AS OF 20Z. KPBH STILL IN THE UPPER 30S WITH ALL
OTHER SITES SEEING TEMPS DROPPING THROUGH THE TEENS WITH SINGLE
DIGITS JUST APPROACHING THE FAR WESTERN FA. PCPN OCCURRING OVER
THE EASTERN TWO THIRDS OF THE AREA WITH SOME LIGHT RAIN MOVING
INTO PRICE COUNTY WI AND NEAR LAKE SUPERIOR. THE RAIN SHOULD
QUICKLY CHANGE OVER TO SNOW AS THE COLD AIR SURGES IN. LONG WAVE
TROF WILL MOVE INTO THE FA TONIGHT AS SFC LOW MOVES INTO THE LOWER
GREAT LAKES. CAA ON THE BACKSIDE OF THE LOW WILL COMBINE WITH A
NORTHERLY WIND TO GENERATE SOME GENEROUS LES BANDS FOR BAYFIELD,
ASHLAND AND IRON COUNTIES. HAVE INCREASED THE SNOW TOTALS FOR IRON
COUNTY DUE TO THE ANTICIPATED DURATION OF THE LONG FETCH. HAVE
CHANGE THE LAKE EFFECT ADVISORY TO A WINTER STORM WARNING FOR IRON
COUNTY AS SFC WIND WILL BE INCREASING AND CAUSE BLOWING AND
DRIFTING SNOW. ELSEWHERE, SYNOPTIC SCALE SNOW WILL CONTINUE TO
AFFECT THE EASTERN TWO THIRDS OF THE FA WITH THE WHERE FORCING IS
GREATEST AHEAD OF THE TROF. LEFT THE REMAINING HEADLINES AS IS.

THE LONG WAVE TROF MOVES OVERHEAD ON THURSDAY WITH CHANNELED AREA OF
VORTICITY. HOWEVER, DEEPEST MOISTURE WILL BE FOUND AHEAD OF THE TROF
FROM THE TIP OF THE ARROWHEAD INTO NW WI. HAVE ADJUSTED POPS
ACCORDINGLY. LES SNOW WILL CONTINUE OVER THE FAVORED ELEVATED AREAS
OF NW WI WITH SOME OF THE STRONGER BANDS MAKING IT ALL THE WAY S TO
SAWYER AND PRICE CONTINUES. EXPECT THE COMBO OF THE SYNOPTIC AND
MESOSCALE FORCING TO PRODUCE ADDITIONAL ACCUMULATION.

THE LES WILL PREVAIL OVER IRON COUNTY THURSDAY NIGHT WITH THE SNOW
DIMINISHING GRADUALLY OVER THE REST OF NW WI. ONLY NORTHERN IRON
COUNTY WILL SEE ADDITIONAL ACCUMULATION AS SFC WIND BECOMES WNW WITH
TIME. ELSEWHERE, SFC RIDGING BEGINS TO BUILD ACROSS THE FA.

.LONG TERM...[FRIDAY - TUESDAY]...

FRIDAY...COLD NORTHWEST WINDS WILL GREET THE MORNING...BUT AT LEAST
THE WINDS WILL BE DECREASING...BECOMING NEGLIGIBLE BY THE EVENING.
MORNING WIND CHILLS WILL LIKELY RANGE BETWEEN 10 AND 25 DEGREES
BELOW ZERO...BUT CONDITIONS SHOULD IMPROVE IN THE AFTERNOON. THE
MODELS HAVE COLD 850 HPA TEMPERATURES OF -16 TO -12 DEGREES OVER THE
NORTHLAND...SO LOWERED THE FRIDAY HIGH TEMPERATURE A FEW DEGREES
BASED ON THE LATEST GUIDANCE. LEANED ON THE COLDER GUIDANCE. MOST OF
THE NORTHLAND WILL REMAIN IN THE SINGLE DIGITS. LAKE EFFECT SNOW
SHOWERS ARE POSSIBLE FROM THE BAYFIELD PENINSULA AND EASTWARD DUE TO
THE COLD NORTHERLY LAKE WINDS. THE MODELS ARE IN REASONABLE
AGREEMENT WITH A SHORTWAVE DROPPING OUT OF CANADA AND SLICING DOWN
THE EASTERN DAKOTAS AND WESTERN MINNESOTA FRIDAY NIGHT. THE
SHORTWAVE AND THE ASSOCIATED WEAK SURFACE LOW MAY BRING LIGHT SNOW
TO THE WESTERN FA.

SATURDAY...THE PASSING SHORTWAVE AND SURFACE LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM
COULD CONTINUE TO PRODUCE LIGHT SNOW ACROSS THE FA...BUT IT IS
LIKELY THERE WOULD BE LITTLE ACCUMULATION. THERE SHOULD STILL BE
COLD 850 HPA TEMPERATURES OF -16 TO -10 DEGREES CELSIUS OVER THE
NORTHLAND...AND CONSIDERING THE CLOUDY SKIES...LOWERED THE HIGH
TEMPERATURE A FEW DEGREES.

SUNDAY THROUGH TUESDAY...WARMER WEATHER SHOULD GREET THE LATTER HALF
OF THE WEEKEND DUE TO INCREASING SOUTHERLY WINDS AHEAD OF AN
APPROACHING LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM AND COLD FRONT. THE STRONG COLD
FRONT IS PROJECTED TO MOVE THROUGH THE NORTHLAND MONDAY...AND IT
COULD BRING LIGHT SNOWFALL TO THE REGION. BOTH THE GFS AND ECMWF ARE
INDICATING THE SOME VERY COLD 850 HPA TEMPERATURES OF -20 TO -28
DEGREES MOVING OVER THE NORTHLAND...SO EXPECT A SHARP COLD SNAP
COME TUESDAY...AND THE POSSIBILITY OF LAKE EFFECT SNOW ALONG THE
SOUTH SHORE OF LAKE SUPERIOR.

&&

.AVIATION...18Z TAF ISSUANCE...

IFR/MVFR CIGS AND GUSTY NORTHWEST WINDS ARE EXPECTED THROUGH
TOMORROW MORNING AS A LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM MOVES THROUGH THE GREAT
LAKES. THE NORTHWEST WINDS WILL GENERALLY BE BETWEEN 10 AND 15
KNOTS WITH GUSTS UP TO 25 KNOTS. PERIODS OF -SN ARE ANTICIPATED
THROUGH THIS AFTERNOON AT MOST SITES...AND THEN PRIMARILY
KHYR/KDLH TONIGHT. THE COMBINATION OF THE WIND AND -SN WILL RESULT
IN LOW VFR AND MVFR VSBYS. THERE MAY BE PERIODS OF IFR VSBYS WITH
HEAVIER SNOW BANDS...PARTICULARLY AT KHYR WHICH WILL BE THE FOCUS
OF THE SNOW TONIGHT AND INTO TOMORROW MORNING. WAS NOT CONFIDENT
OF IFR CIGS FOR ALL TAF SITES TONIGHT INTO TOMORROW MORNING...SO
FORECASTED LOW MVFR WHICH MAY NEED TO REVISED TO IFR WITH FUTURE
UPDATES.

&&

.POINT TEMPS/POPS...
DLH   7  11  -2   9 /  50  10  20  10
INL   1   6  -9   6 /  20  10  10   0
BRD   6  11  -1  12 /  20  10  10   0
HYR  12  15   4  11 /  70  60  40  10
ASX  16  18   9  14 /  70  70  90  30

&&

.DLH WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
MN...NONE.
WI...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FROM 9 PM THIS EVENING TO MIDNIGHT CST
     THURSDAY NIGHT FOR WIZ009.

     WINTER STORM WARNING UNTIL 10 AM CST FRIDAY FOR WIZ004.

     LAKE EFFECT SNOW ADVISORY UNTIL 10 AM CST FRIDAY FOR WIZ002-003.

LS...SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY UNTIL NOON CST FRIDAY FOR LSZ121-144>148.

&&

SHORT TERM...GSF
LONG TERM/AVIATION...GROCHOCINSKI

Hazardous weather outlook, Jan 11, 3:48 PM CST, 3 hours 12 minutes before

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In the hours before

Local storm report, Jan 11, 2:12 PM CST, 4 hours 48 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DULUTH MN
212 PM CST WED JAN 11 2012

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

0100 PM     SNOW             2 SW PROCTOR            46.72N 92.26W
01/11/2012  M0.5 INCH        ST. LOUIS          MN   TRAINED SPOTTER

            SLUSHY ROADS

&&

KK

Local storm report, Jan 11, 2:16 PM CST, 4 hours 44 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DULUTH MN
216 PM CST WED JAN 11 2012

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

0216 PM     SNOW             ELY                     47.91N 91.85W
01/11/2012  M1.2 INCH        ST. LOUIS          MN   TRAINED SPOTTER

&&

KK

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

3 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.

Heavy Snow, Ashland

When: January 11, 7:00 PM CST to January 13, 9:00 PM CST
Where: Ashland forecast zone
Reported by: Trained Spotter
Coordinates: 46.510, -90.720 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy Snow, Iron

When: January 11, 7:00 PM CST to January 13, 9:00 PM CST
Where: Iron forecast zone
Reported by: Trained Spotter
Coordinates: 46.317, -90.264 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy Snow, Bayfield

When: January 11, 9:00 PM CST to January 13, 9:00 PM CST
Where: Bayfield forecast zone
Reported by: Trained Spotter
Coordinates: 46.635, -91.181 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Heavy Snow: Snowfall reaching the local warning threshold without the other hazards of a winter storm.

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

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Wisconsin in 2012 Every state in 2012 This day in weather history Warnings in Wisconsin, January 2012

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: 357249, 357250, 357248.