textproduct: La Crosse

KEY MESSAGES

- Cooler temperatures for this week with highs in the 50s for many locations and lows in the 30s. Frost/Freeze is likely Friday and Saturday morning, especially in north-central WI.

- Minimal precipitation chances through the week.

DISCUSSION

Issued at 158 AM CDT Tue Apr 28 2026

Today - Friday: Cooler and Drier, Frost/Freeze Thursday and Friday Morning

A relatively benign synoptic pattern will ensue across the area over the next few days as an upper-level trough situated north of the local area gradually pushes southeast into the Great Lakes region throughout the week and transitions into a closed upper-low. This will generally keep our area in northwesterly flow throughout the week and thus facilitating a cooler airmass to persist in the region throughout the remainder of the work week with high pressure overhead. As a result, the NBM inter-quartile range generally keeps high temperatures from the upper 40s to near 60 for Wednesday through Friday across the local area. Additionally, overnight lows fall into the 30s with even some spots falling below freezing in north-central WI on Thursday morning.

By Wednesday night and into Thursday, a shortwave trough will swing around the aforementioned upper-level closed low that may bring some light shower chances into the region. However, given limited moisture in this northwesterly regime, ensemble guidance is not overly enthusiastic about this potential with the grand ensemble (GEFS/EC/Canadian ensemble) only having medium probabilities (30- 50%) for measurable rainfall across the region during this period. Regardless, this will reinforce northwesterly flow into Friday morning with overnight lows falling below 35 degrees for much of the local area. This is represented in the NBM with high probabilities (50-90% chance) for lows to fall below this across much of the area, outside of river valley locations.

This Weekend: Slight Warming Trend

As we head into the weekend, some upper-level ridging attempts to sneak in from the west which results in surface flow trending more westerly to even southwesterly overnight on Saturday. As a result, the morning lows on Saturday likely fall to 35 degrees or colder again for much of the area will warm up for the afternoon with highs in the inter-quartile NBM ranging from the middle 50s to middle 60s. This trends even warmer for Sunday where the 75th percentile of the NBM reaches the upper 60s to near 70 degrees at some locations.

AVIATION /06Z TAFS THROUGH 06Z WEDNESDAY/

Issued at 1156 PM CDT Mon Apr 27 2026

MVFR cigs overnight will improve to VFR by mid-morning as sky cover becomes bkn to sct. Winds will remain elevated at around 12-18 kt with gusts up to 30 kts during the morning, but will gradually diminish during the afternoon and into the evening while remaining northwesterly.

ARX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

WI...None. MN...None. IA...None.