Wisconsin, 2014

Lake-Effect Snow in Wisconsin, January 16 to 17, 2014

January 16 to 17, 2014 · NWS DLH · 4 events in 4 counties and zones

North to northwest winds over western Lake Superior brought heavy lake effect snow to parts of northwest Wisconsin near Lake Superior late January 16th through midday January 17th. Snowfall amounts included 12 in Cornucopia, WI (Bayfield County), 10 in Gile, WI (Iron County), 8 in Maple, WI (Douglas County), and 6 in Mellen, WI (Ashland County).

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.

North to northwest winds over western Lake Superior brought heavy lake effect snow to parts of northwest Wisconsin near Lake Superior late January 16th through midday January 17th. Snowfall amounts included 12 in Cornucopia, WI (Bayfield County), 10 in Gile, WI (Iron County), 8 in Maple, WI (Douglas County), and 6 in Mellen, WI (Ashland County).

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 16, 3:23 PM CST, 1 hour 37 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jan 16, 3:23 PM CST, 1 hour 37 minutes before
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Hazardous weather outlook, Jan 16, 3:53 PM CST, 1 hour 7 minutes before
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In the hours before

Local storm report, Jan 16, 11:40 AM CST, 5 hours 20 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DULUTH MN
1140 AM CST THU JAN 16 2014

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

1140 AM     SNOW             INTERNATIONAL FALLS     48.59N 93.41W
01/16/2014  M3.5 INCH        KOOCHICHING        MN   OFFICIAL NWS OBS

            STORM TOTAL. 0.4 IN THE LAST 6 HOURS.

&&

MCLOVIN
Local storm report, Jan 16, 12:28 PM CST, 4 hours 32 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DULUTH MN
1228 PM CST THU JAN 16 2014

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

1200 PM     SNOW             5 NW TWO HARBORS        47.08N 91.75W
01/16/2014  M2.5 INCH        LAKE               MN   TRAINED SPOTTER

1220 PM     SNOW             2 NE LUTSEN             47.66N 90.68W
01/16/2014  M10.0 INCH       COOK               MN   TRAINED SPOTTER

&&

MCLOVIN
Local storm report, Jan 16, 12:29 PM CST, 4 hours 31 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DULUTH MN
1229 PM CST THU JAN 16 2014

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

1200 PM     SNOW             5 NW DULUTH             46.83N 92.19W
01/16/2014  M3.7 INCH        ST. LOUIS          MN   OFFICIAL NWS OBS

            STORM TOTAL THUS FAR

&&

MCLOVIN
Local storm report, Jan 16, 2:18 PM CST, 2 hours 42 minutes before
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Local storm report, Jan 16, 4:45 PM CST, 15 minutes before
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Local storm report, Jan 16, 4:47 PM CST, 13 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

4 lake-effect snow. Local standard time, as filed.

Lake-Effect Snow, Ashland

When
January 16, 5:00 PM CST to January 17, 1:00 PM CST
Where
Ashland forecast zone
Reported by
Trained Spotter
Coordinates
46.510, -90.720 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Lake-Effect Snow, Bayfield

When
January 16, 5:00 PM CST to January 17, 1:00 PM CST
Where
Bayfield forecast zone
Reported by
Trained Spotter
Coordinates
46.635, -91.181 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Lake-Effect Snow, Douglas

When
January 16, 5:00 PM CST to January 17, 1:00 PM CST
Where
Douglas forecast zone
Reported by
Trained Spotter
Coordinates
46.464, -91.899 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Lake-Effect Snow, Iron

When
January 16, 5:00 PM CST to January 17, 2:00 PM CST
Where
Iron forecast zone
Reported by
Trained Spotter
Coordinates
46.317, -90.264 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Lake-Effect Snow
Heavy snow in bands downwind of a large lake as cold air crosses warmer water.

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

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Wisconsin in 2014Every state in 2014This day in weather historyWarnings in Wisconsin, January 2014

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 2026-09-30. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 483645, 483646, 483647, 483648.