No changes occurred during December, 2013 to the severe drought across western Wisconsin. Because the ground was frozen, no moisture from the 10 to 20 inches of snow that fell was able to work into the soil.
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.
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 ARX wrote it up.
No changes occurred during December, 2013 to the severe drought across western Wisconsin. Because the ground was frozen, no moisture from the 10 to 20 inches of snow that fell was able to work into the soil. As a result, the severe drought continued across the northern portions of Buffalo and Trempealeau Counties into the northwest corner of Jackson County.
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 La Crosse, WI wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Nov 30, 11:15 PM CST, 45 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LA CROSSE WI 1115 PM CST SAT NOV 30 2013 .SHORT TERM...(THIS EVENING THROUGH SUNDAY) ISSUED AT 345 PM CST SAT NOV 30 2013 THE MAIN FORECAST CONCERN FOR TONIGHT ARE THE CLOUDS FOR TONIGHT. THE MODELS SHOW THAT THE MID AND HIGH CLOUDS CURRENTLY OVER THE AREA WILL GRADUALLY SHIFT SOUTH AND THIN AS THEY MOVE INTO NORTHEAST IOWA AND SOUTHWEST WISCONSIN LATE TONIGHT. MEANWHILE ANOTHER AREA OF LOW CLOUDS CURRENTLY LOCATED OVER NORTHERN MINNESOTA WILL MOVE SOUTH INTO WESTERN WISCONSIN AND PORTIONS OF SOUTHEAST MINNESOTA. AS A RESULT...HAVE MANY AREAS MOSTLY CLOUDY TONIGHT. ON SUNDAY...WARM AIR ADVECTION AND WEAK TO MODERATE 285 TO 295K ISENTROPIC LIFT WILL DEVELOP ACROSS THE AREA AS A WARM FRONT MOVES NORTHEAST TOWARD THE AREA. THIS WILL KEEP SKIES MAINLY CLOUDY. .LONG TERM...(SUNDAY NIGHT THROUGH SATURDAY) ISSUED AT 345 PM CST SAT NOV 30 2013 FROM SUNDAY NIGHT INTO MONDAY EVENING...THE 30.00Z MODELS KEEP THE WEAK LOW PRESSURE MORE TOWARD THE DAKOTAS. THIS KEEPS THE WARM AIR ADVECTION FURTHER WEST. AS A RESULT...SHIFTED THE SLIGHT SNOW CHANCES WEST OF AN OELWEIN IOWA TO NEILLSVILLE WISCONSIN LINE. FROM LATE MONDAY NIGHT INTO WEDNESDAY NIGHT...THE MODELS CONTINUE TO STRUGGLE WITH A SHORT WAVE TROUGH EJECTING OUT AHEAD OF A DEVELOPING LONG WAVE TROUGH OVER THE WESTERN UNITED STATES. SINCE THE 30.00Z RUN...THE GFS CONTINUES TO BE THE STRONGEST AND THE FASTEST AT MOVING THIS SYSTEM THROUGH WESTERN AND NORTHERN MINNESOTA. THIS PUSHES THE ARCTIC COLD FRONT THROUGH THE AREA ON TUESDAY NIGHT. 11 OF THE 12 GFS ENSEMBLE MEMBERS SUPPORT THE OPERATIONAL GFS RUN. MEANWHILE THE ECMWF AND GEM HAS A MUCH WEAKER WAVE MOVING THROUGH WESTERN AND NORTHERN MINNESOTA. THIS KEEPS THE ARCTIC FRONT WEST OF THE FORECAST AREA UNTIL A STRONGER SHORT WAVE TROUGH EJECTS ACROSS NORTHERN AND WESTERN MINNESOTA ON WEDNESDAY NIGHT. AS A RESULT...BOTH THE TUESDAY NIGHT MINIMUM TEMPERATURE AND WEDNESDAY MAXIMUM TEMPERATURE ARE WARMER. THE ECMWF ENSEMBLE SUPPORTS THIS SLOWER SOLUTION. SINCE THE ECMWF TENDS TO DO BETTER DURING THIS TIME FRAME...IT WAS THE CONSENSUS TO TREND THE FORECAST TOWARD THE GEM AND ECMWF. WITH THERE NOT BEING TOO MUCH OF A GULF CONNECTION UNTIL THE FRONT IS OFF TO THE EAST OF THE FORECAST AREA...NOT EXPECTING TOO MUCH PRECIPITATION ALONG AND AHEAD OF THIS FRONT. SOUNDINGS SUGGEST THAT THE PRECIPITATION WILL START OFF AS SNOW OR RAIN LATE MONDAY NIGHT AND TUESDAY MORNING...AND THEN TRANSITION TO MAINLY RAIN FROM TUESDAY AFTERNOON INTO WEDNESDAY...AND THEN BACK OVER TO SNOW ON WEDNESDAY NIGHT. FROM THURSDAY NIGHT INTO FRIDAY MORNING...THE MODELS CONTINUE TO SHOW THAT A SHORT WAVE TROUGH WILL MOVE FROM THE MID MISSISSIPPI RIVER VALLEY INTO SOUTHEAST LOWER MICHIGAN. THE WARM CONVEYOR BELT IN THE GEM AND ECMWF BRINGS SOME OF THE SNOW NORTHWARD INTO EASTERN IOWA AND SOUTHERN AND EASTERN WISCONSIN. PREVIOUSLY THIS PRECIPITATION WAS WELL SOUTHEAST OF THE FORECAST AREA. DUE TO THIS SLIGHT DRIFT TO THE NORTHWEST... A SLIGHT CHANCE /15 TO 24 PERCENT/ OF SNOW WAS INTRODUCED TO THE FORECAST. FROM FRIDAY INTO SATURDAY...THE TEMPERATURE FORECAST IS RATHER TRICKY. THE ECMWF HAS 850 MB TEMPERATURES FALLING INTO THE -18C TO -20C RANGE. MEANWHILE THE GFS IS EVEN COLDER WITH 850 MB TEMPERATURES RANGING FROM -20 TO -22C. WHILE THESE TEMPERATURES ARE 2 TO 3 STANDARD DEVIATIONS BELOW NORMAL...THE HIGH TEMPERATURES AT LA CROSSE HAVE ONLY /SINCE 1892 WHEN SNOW DEPTH RECORDS BEGAN/ FALLEN BELOW 10 DEGREES ONE TIME /DECEMBER 2 1976/ WHEN THERE WAS LESS THAN AN INCH OF SNOW ON THE GROUND DURING THE FIRST TEN DAYS OF DECEMBER. SNOW IS VERY CRITICAL WHEN LOOKING AT TEMPERATURES APPROACHING RECORDS. WHEN LOOKING AT THE TEMPERATURE RECORDS FOR ALL OF DECEMBER SINCE 1893...THERE HAS ONLY BEEN 2 OCCURRENCES OF A RECORD COLD MAXIMUM /41 RECORDS/ BEING SET OR TIED WHEN THERE WAS LESS THAN AN INCH OF SNOW ON THE GROUND. MEANWHILE...THERE HAS NEVER BEEN A RECORD LOW TEMPERATURE /27 RECORDS/ SET WITH LESS THAN INCH OF SNOW ON THE GROUND. AS A RESULT...VERY LEERY OF GOING TOO COLD. && .AVIATION...(FOR THE 00Z TAFS THROUGH 00Z SUNDAY EVENING) ISSUED AT 1115 PM CST SAT NOV 30 2013 BAND OF MID LEVEL CLOUDS CONTINUES TO HANG WEST-EAST ACROSS THE REGION...MOSTLY 8-12 KFT. HOWEVER...LARGE MVFR STRATUS DECK CONTINUES TO SINK SOUTHWARD FROM NORTHERN MN/LAKE SUPERIOR. RAP13 FAVORS KEEPING THIS CLOUD DECK TOGETHER...BUT IS ALSO TRENDING SLOWER WITH REACHING KRST/KLSE...MORE AFTER 15Z NOW. THE GFS/NAM NOT AS BULLISH ON BRINGING THE MVFR CLOUDS THIS FAR SOUTH...KEEPING MOST OF THEM TO THE NORTH AND EAST. MEANWHILE THE FOG/STRATUS SATELLITE IMAGERY SHOWS A LARGE AREA OF STRATUS...WITH CURRENT TIMING EVEN LATER THAN THE RAP...CLOSER TO 18Z. WILL CONTINUE TO HOLD WITH THE IDEA THAT THESE MVFR CIGS WILL MAKE IT TO THE KRST/KLSE...BUT WILL PUSH BACK THE TIMING. SOUNDINGS CONTINUE TO SUGGEST THAT THERE SHOULD BE ENOUGH MIXING FOR A DIURNAL INCREASE IN CIG HEIGHT BY 18Z...AND POTENTIALLY BECOME SCT AS DRY AIR MIXES IN. CLOUD FORECAST REMAINS TOUGH. TRENDS WILL HAVE TO BE MONITORED CLOSELY AND ADJUSTMENTS MADE AS NECESSARY. && .ARX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... WI...NONE. MN...NONE. IA...NONE. && SHORT TERM...BOYNE LONG TERM....BOYNE AVIATION.....RIECK
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LA CROSSE WI 315 PM CST SAT NOV 30 2013 IAZ008>011-018-019-029-030-MNZ079-086>088-094>096-WIZ017-029- 032>034-041>044-053>055-061-011200- MITCHELL-HOWARD-WINNESHIEK-ALLAMAKEE-FLOYD-CHICKASAW-FAYETTE- CLAYTON-WABASHA-DODGE-OLMSTED-WINONA-MOWER-FILLMORE-HOUSTON- TAYLOR-CLARK-BUFFALO-TREMPEALEAU-JACKSON-LA CROSSE-MONROE-JUNEAU- ADAMS-VERNON-CRAWFORD-RICHLAND-GRANT- 315 PM CST SAT NOV 30 2013 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF NORTHEAST IOWA...SOUTHEAST MINNESOTA...CENTRAL WISCONSIN...NORTH CENTRAL WISCONSIN...SOUTHWEST WISCONSIN AND WEST CENTRAL WISCONSIN. .DAY ONE...REST OF THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY PERIODS OF LIGHT RAIN OR SNOW ARE POSSIBLE LATE SUNDAY NIGHT THROUGH THURSDAY. LITTLE IF ANY SNOW ACCUMULATION IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED. .EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT COORDINATION... NO WEBINAR IS SCHEDULED. AJ
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
3 drought. Local standard time, as filed.
No changes occurred to the severe drought across northern Buffalo County. Because the ground was frozen, no moisture from the 10 to 15 inches of snow that fell was able to soak into the soil.
No changes occurred to the severe drought across the northwest corner of Jackson County. Because the ground was frozen, no moisture from the 15 to 20 inches of snow that fell was able to soak into the soil.
No changes occurred to the severe drought across northern Trempealeau County. Because the soil was frozen, no moisture from the 10 to 15 inches of snow that fell was able to soak into the soil.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Wisconsin in 2013Every state in 2013This day in weather historyWarnings in Wisconsin, December 2013
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: 482251, 482252, 482253.